There are disparities in cancer risk for people living with serious mental illness.
This report highlights those gaps and offers policy and program considerations in primary care and cancer preventive services to improve health outcomes.
Highlights
- People living with schizophrenia in Ontario have significantly higher prevalence of tobacco smoking; physical inactivity; and inadequate vegetable and fruit consumption than the general population.
- People living with serious mental illness have increased mortality from cancer and are less likely to receive cancer screening and other preventive services than the general population.
- Approximately 35% of sites caring for people with serious mental illness in Ontario offer smoking cessation services aligned with the Ask-Advise-Refer approach.
- Opportunities for improvement include strengthening primary care provider’s ability to address cancer prevention for people living with serious mental illness and improving access to smoking cessation programs.