The life expectancy of people with a mental illness may be reduced compared to the general population. The reasons are largely unclear, but may in part be related to lifestyle factors such as weight gain, smoking, unhealthy diet and low physical activity. Bipolar disorder may also be associated with increased suicide rates when compared to the general population.

What is the evidence regarding mortality rates in bipolar disorder?

Moderate to high quality evidence suggests a medium-sized effect of increased risk of all-cause mortality in people with the disorder compared to the general population.

There were large effects of increased risk of suicide or other violent deaths, medium-sized effects of increased risk of death from respiratory disease or infections, and small effects of increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, circulatory disease or cancer.

November 2021

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