Reducing Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illnesses

[Minnesota Medicine, June 02, 2010] To launch a 10 By 10 initiative in Minnesota, in 2008 leaders in the psychiatric community formed a work group. The group’s first effort was to accurately determine the extent of the disparity between the lifespans of people with serious mental illnesses (defined as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar affective disorder), and the general population.

Paul Goering, MD, executive director of Mental Health for Allina Hospitals & Clinics and Rodney Christensen, MD, interim chief medical officer for Allina Medical Clinics participated in this initiative and are co-authors of this study.