Within 10 years of first discharge, the cumulative incidence of death, self-harm, committing a violent crime, or hospitalisation due to interpersonal violence was 32·0% in the discharged cohort.
According to a commentary, this epidemiological evidence highlights the intense susceptibility of people hospitalised for psychiatric disorders to very serious outcomes for a long time after their first hospitalisation. It notes many of these outcomes are not rare, and are occurring in very young people, and especially in young men, who could otherwise have many years to contribute to society. It acknowledges that although a more upstream approach to prevention might be disruptive and expensive in the short term, this study and other research on the developmental origins of health and disease and on the social determinants of health suggest that this approach could have the greatest long-term gain.