Data to Manage the Mortality Crisis.

Adult consumers with serious mental illness (SMI) die 25 years younger than other Americans. Considerable limitations are evident in existing data sets that inhibit our ability to fully disentangle the underlying excess mortality in these populations. To date, it has been necessary to use multiple surveys to examine these relationships as no available data sets combine high-quality data including psychiatric diagnosis, health risk behaviors, medical comorbidity, medical and mental service use, and quality of care. It is critical that medical and mental health surveys each move toward including more robust information on the corresponding comorbidities and use of services and that each begin to incorporate longitudinal designs. This article addresses the need for data on mortality, morbidity, and services. It discusses the availability of state mortality data, reviews the data provided by numerous national and state data collection instruments, and provides a case study of Maine's integrated data analysis efforts. Finally, our recommendations to improve these data are organized into two sections: proposed actions by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and proposed actions by other federal and state entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]