Patients with mental health conditions who missed general practitioner (GP) appointments repeatedly are at higher risk for mortality than those with physical disorders, finds a new study.
One possible mechanism mediating the relationship involves conditions associated with cognitive impairment such as dementia or alcohol and drug use.
The study found that the more long-term conditions (LTC) a person had, the more likely they were to miss appointments.
LTC is a condition that cannot be cured at present but can be controlled by medication and other therapies.
For the study, the researchers included 824,374 patients.