Unhealthy Lifestyle in Patients of a Psychosomatic Outpatient and Consultation-Liaison Clinic

Patients with mental disorders have an increased risk for somatic diseases. Especially life style risk factors contribute to this increased risk. In order to identify targets for preventive measures, we aimed to determine the prevalence of an unhealthy lifestyle in a clinical sample and to analyze associations with severity of mental disorders and somatic complaints. We analyzed the medical records of n = 1 919 outpatients, who were treated between 2009-2011 in the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the University Medical Center Mainz. 62.4% of the patients were physically inactive, 33.2% were smokers and 17.4% were obese. Lifestyle risk factors were associated with increased symptom burden and impairment. Smoking was strongly associated with more previous psychiatric or psychosomatic inpatient treatments. These results indicate an urgent need for targeting health behavior more rigorously in the treatment of patients with common mental disorders.