Background Selected groups of patients with bipolar and unipolar disorder have an
increased mortality rate from suicide and natural causes of death. However, there has been
no population-based study of mortality of patients followed up from the onset of the illness.
Methods All patients with a hospital diagnosis of bipolar (n= 15 386) or unipolar (n= 39 182)
disorder in Sweden from 1973 to 1995 were identified from the inpatient register and linked
with the national cause-of-death register to determine the date and cause of death. Overall …