the rate and causes of mortality in hospitalized chronic schizophrenic patients; a 4-year study

schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders and 25% of the patients need long term hospitalization. they have somatic illness that may be ignored and lead to death. considering the lack of information regarding the causes of death in schizophrenic patients, the aim of this study was to determine the main causes of death in the long term hospitalized schizophrenic patients in shahid modares psychiatric hospital in isfahan. in this descriptive study the causes of death were determined in 252 hospitalized schizophrenic cases by reviewing their hospital and medical reports after death. patients with known organic disorders were excluded.x 2 test was used for analyzing obtained data and relation between mortality and sex or age. the crude mortality rate was 3.27 %( 4.16% in females and 1.9% in males (p > 0.05). the most common causes of death were; sudden death (44%), aspiration (14.7%), infection disease (8.9%), falling (5.9%) and myocardial infarction (5.88%) respectively. the findings of current study were different from other studies in this field. by using proper care centers and planning for the education of staff, we can reduce the rate of mortality in long term hospitalized patient.