Health status risk factors of people with severe and persistent mental illness.

High rates of medical comorbidity and premature death have become normative health outcomes for individuals with mental illness. On average, people with mental illness die 10 to 15 years earlier than the general population. To date, little research and programmatic attention has focused on the health promotion and prevention needs of people with mental illness. Many factors have been cited as contributing to this problem, including the stigma of being mentally ill, poverty, and limited knowledge and access to health promotion services. Future health planning interventions should restructure the funding mandates of current health care delivery system from an illness and treatment model to one of illness prevention and health promotion.