Addressing comorbidity between mental disorders and major noncommunicable diseases (2017)

2017, vii + 39 pages
ISBN: 978 92 890 5253 5
This publication is only available online.

Reduced healthy life expectancy due to the high burden of both mental ill health and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is a major public health concern in the European Region. The links between mental disorders and major NCDs are well established.

In clinical practice, however, mental disorders in patients with NCDs as well as NCDs in patients with mental disorders are often overlooked. Premature mortality and disability could be reduced if there were a greater focus on comorbidity.

This report addresses the needs of adults of working age with mental health problems – those with common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety and those with more severe conditions such as schizophrenia and bi-polar affective disorder. It also addresses the needs of those with NCDs, specifically cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes mellitus.