The effect of long‐term lithium treatment on the mortality of patients with manic‐depressive and schizoaffective illness*

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Abstract
Clinical research centers in Aarhus, Berlin, Hamilton and Vienna collected mortality data for 827 manic‐depressive and schizoaffective patients given lithium treatment for more than 6 months. The average duration of the treatment was 81 months and the total time on lithium 5600 patient‐years. For each patient, the mortality risk was calculated by entering the appropriate national life tables for the general population. The number of observed deaths was 44; the number of expected deaths was 49.7. The standardized mortality ratio, 0.89, did not differ significantly from 1.0. The mortality of manic‐depressive patients is 2–3 times that of the general population. Our data show that the mortality of manic‐depressive and schizoaffective patients given long‐term lithium treatment does not differ significantly from that of the general population.