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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 185: 422-428
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Mental illness and accidental death

Case–control psychological autopsy study

Susan S. F. Gau, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei

Andrew T. A. Cheng, MD, PhD, DSc(London), FRCPsych

Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Correspondence: Professor Andrew T. A. Cheng, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Tel: +886 2 2789 9119; fax: +8862 2782 3047; e-mail: bmandrew{at}gate.sinica.edu.tw

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgement.

Background Few studies have systematically investigated the psychiatric antecedents of accidental death.

Aims To examine the patterns of psychiatric morbidities contributing to accidental death in three ethnic groups (Han, Ami and Atayal) in Taiwan.

Method A case–control psychological autopsy was conducted among 90 accidental deaths (randomly selected from a total of 413) and 180 living controls matched for age, gender, ethnicity and area of residence in Taiwan.

Results The risk of accidental death was significantly associated with alcohol use disorder and with other common mental disorders. When jointly considered, it was greatest when these two types of disorders co-existed, followed by common mental disorders alone. The risk of accidental death increased with the number of comorbid conditions.

Conclusions The prevention of accidental death should be incorporated into preventive psychiatry, not just for alcohol use disorder, but also for all other common mental disorders.




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