On Wednesday 20 August at 13:00, Danni Chen defends her PhD dissertation entitled "Excess mortality in mental disorders: Exploring the role of socioeconomic position".

While it is well-established that people with mental disorders face elevated mortality rates and reduced life expectancy compared to the general population, the role of SEP in these associations remains unclear. The scope of this thesis was to contribute to this knowledge gap by synthesizing the existing evidence (Study 1) and conducting two cohort studies (Study 2 and 3), while accounting for several measures of SEP at different levels using national registers from Denmark.

The synthesis of the existing evidence (Study 1) did not support that SEP moderated the relative association between mental disorders and mortality, but the underlying mortality rates may differ by SEP groups, despite only rarely being reported in the existing literature. This information gap was addressed in Study 2 and 3, which found that individuals with mental disorders can expect to have a 6- to 8-year reduction in life expectancy and have elevated risks of all examined mortality causes compared to the general Danish population, regardless of their SEP. For most causes, mortality rate differences comparing people with and without mental disorders were greater in lower than higher income levels, except for suicide, where a reverse social gradient was observed. These patterns were broadly comparable when additionally accounting for neighborhood deprivation levels, and examined across specific mental disorder type, sex and age groups, while were attunated among people of non-Danish origin.

Even in a highly resourced country such as Denmark, which has relatively low levels of poverty and inequality, having a low SEP may amplify the already elevated mortality rates experienced by people who suffer from mental disorders. Future research should seek to understand the mechanisms and how SEP may play different roles across causes of death, over time and from a life-course perspective.

The summary is written by the PhD student.

The defence is public and takes place in the auditorium at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Olof Palmes Allé 43-45, 8200 Aarhus N and online. Please see the press release for more information. 

Contact

PhD student Danni Chen
Mail: danni.chen@ph.au.dk
Phone: (+45) 91850003

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