'Higher rate of mental illness among western homeless'
02 December 2008
 Homeless people in western countries are more prone to suffering from some form of mental illness than members of the general population, according to new research. Published in PLoS Medicine, the meta-analysis of 29 studies involving more than 5,500 homeless people in the US, UK, mainland Europe and Australia found that the prevalence of serious mental health disorders in the group was high compared with the wider population.The most common mental health disorder was alcohol and drug abuse, which afflicted an estimated 37.9 per cent and 24.4 per cent respectively.Carried out by Seena Fazel and colleagues at the University of Oxford, the research also showed that alcohol abuse had increased in recent decades.Depression and psychosis levels were as prevalent as those in high-risk populations, such as among prisoners and refugees.The Mental Health Foundation states that one in five older people suffers from depression. The figure rises to two in five for people living in care homes. © 2008 Adfero Ltd. All rights reserved. Any views and opinions expressed in news articles are not those of Craegmoor Limited and its associated companies. News supplied by Adfero DirectNews.
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