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A new study suggests that schizophrenia patients are more likely to die of a heart attack when compared to the general population.

According to the research by scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), people with schizophrenia already on an average have a 20 years shorter lifespan than others.

This could be because of smoking, increased rate of diabetes in schizophrenia patients, problem brought in by antipsychotic drugs, etc. These factors mostly worsen after a cardiac condition since for schizophrenic patients, it is difficult to make lifestyle and dietary changes like others can.

For the study, the researchers examined the mortality and access to cardiac care after heart attacks (acute myocardial infarction) in schizophrenia patients.

Dr. Paul Kurdyak, Chief, Division of General and Health Systems Psychiatry at CAMH, analyzed four years of Ontario-wide patient data and tracked all incidents of heart attack among people with schizophrenia, and compared results to people without schizophrenia, Medical Xpress reported.

"When we looked at the data, we found that people with schizophrenia were 56 per cent more likely to die after discharge from hospital following a heart attack than those who did not have schizophrenia," says Dr. Kurdyak, also an Adjunct Scientist at ICES.

"We also found that patients with schizophrenia, despite the increase in mortality risk after a heart attack, were half as likely to receive life-saving cardiac procedures and care from cardiologists than those without schizophrenia."

The study findings revealed that schizophrenia patients had 50 per cent lesser chances of receiving cardiac procedures or visiting a cardiologist within 30 days of discharge from hospital.

"The numbers tell us that people with schizophrenia- the ones who are at most risk to develop and subsequently die from heart attacks-are not receiving adequate care," says Dr. Kurdyak.

"The possible solutions are two-fold: prevention is one. We need to support patients whom we know are at risk of developing medication-related metabolic issues by working with them to provide strategies to offset weight gain, such as healthy eating and physical activity. The other part is aftercare - the mental health care team, primary care providers, and the cardiac specialists need to work together to ensure that patients are seen again after a first incident of heart attack."

The study was published online in Schizophrenia Research.