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Published Online: 1 August 2012

Early Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost Among Veterans Affairs Patients With Depression

Kara Zivin, Ph.D., Mark A. Ilgen, Ph.D., Paul Nelson Pfeiffer, M.D., Deborah E. Welsh, M.S., John McCarthy, Ph.D., M.P.H., Marcia Valenstein, M.D., Erin M. Miller, M.S., Khairul Islam, Ph.D., and Helen C. Kales, M.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: Psychiatric Services
Volume 63, Number 8
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201100317
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Abstract

Objective:

Substantial literature documents excess and early mortality among individuals with serious mental illness, but there are relatively few data about mortality and depression.

Methods:

During fiscal year 2007, data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Death Index were used to calculate mean age of death and years of potential life lost (YPLL) associated with 13 causes of death among veterans with (N=701,659) or without (N=4,245,193) depression.

Results:

Compared with nondepressed patients, depressed patients died younger (71.1 versus 75.9) and had more YPLL (13.4 versus 10.2) as a result of both natural and unnatural causes. Depending on the cause of death, depressed patients died between 2.5 and 8.7 years earlier and had 1.5 to 6.1 YPLL compared with nondepressed patients.

Conclusions:

These findings have important implications for clinical practice, given that improved quality of care may be needed to reduce early mortality among depressed VA patients. (Psychiatric Services 63:823–826, 2012; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100317)

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Figures and Tables

Table 1 Characteristics of 4,946,852 Veterans Affairs (VA) patients with or without depression, fiscal year 2006
Table 2 Age of death and years of potential life lost (YPLL) among veterans with or without depression, by cause of death

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

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Cover: Girl With Ball, by Roy Lichtenstein, 1961. Oil on canvas. Gift of Philip Johnson. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, New York.
Psychiatric Services
Volume 63 • Number 8 • August 2012
Pages: 823 - 826
PubMed: 22854727

History

Published online: 1 August 2012
Published in print: August 2012

Authors

Details

Kara Zivin, Ph.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
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Mark A. Ilgen, Ph.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
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Paul Nelson Pfeiffer, M.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author
Deborah E. Welsh, M.S.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
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John McCarthy, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author
Marcia Valenstein, M.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author
Erin M. Miller, M.S.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author
Khairul Islam, Ph.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author
Helen C. Kales, M.D.
Dr. Zivin, Dr. Ilgen, Dr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Welsh, Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Valenstein, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Kales are affiliated with the National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center and the Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Bldg. 14, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: [email protected]). With the exception of Ms. Welsh, they are also with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where Dr. Islam, currently with the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, was affiliated at the time that this report was written.
View all articles by this author

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