Excess cause-specific mortality in out-patients with personality disorder

SUMMARY: Personality disorders (PDs) are associated with increased overall mortality. In patients hospitalised with a principal diagnosis of PD, this is observed for all clusters and for natural as well as unnatural causes of death. Data from Swedish nationwide registers were used to assess whether this was also true for the majority of patients diagnosed with PDs not severe enough to lead to hospitalisation. There was an increased mortality in all clusters, and for natural as well as unnatural death, also in patients treated as out-patients only, although not to the same extent as in those hospitalised. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: None. COPYRIGHT AND USAGE: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.