RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Research is increasingly focusing on the health status of adults with serious mental illness. This study examined databases in Vermont to determine the incidence of cancer in this population. METHODS: Probabilistic statistical methods were used to determine the overlap between the Vermont Cancer Registry and Vermont mental health treatment databases. RESULTS: The incidence of cancer for adults with mental illness was 1.6 percent, more than twice (2.5 times) that of the general population. Among persons with mental illness, elevated risk was greatest for men younger than 50 years (6.6 times the risk of a comparable group in the general population) and lowest for women aged 50 years and older (1.8 times the risk of a comparable group). CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise important questions about the relationship between serious mental illness and cancer. Future research should consider the effect of lifestyle factors, and potential effects of first- and second-generation antipsychotics should be investigated.
