The co-occurrence of poor physical and mental health has been well documented; in particular, the role that mental health conditions play in increasing vulnerability to physical disability and poorer outcomes [180–182]. Consumers of mental health services have more than double the mortality rate than the general population [183], largely attributable to CVD [184].
Risk factors for CVD are prominent among people with AOD and mental health conditions [184, 185], and include high rates of smoking [186–188], overweight and obesity [189–191], diabetes [192, 193], poor diet [194, 195], physical inactivity [196–198], excessive alcohol consumption [199, 200], and the use of some antipsychotic medication [201].
Furthermore, these risk factors also place people at risk of metabolic syndrome [202]. Metabolic syndrome is the presence of three or more of the following risk factors [203]:
- Elevated waist circumference (or central obesity).
- Raised triglycerides.
- Increased blood pressure.
- Increased glucose.
- Lowered high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Approximately one third of Australians have metabolic syndrome [204], which is directly affected by sleep, physical activity, and dietary behaviours [205, 206]. People with mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD, BPD) are at high-risk of metabolic syndrome and associated morbidity and mortality, particularly those prescribed antipsychotics [202, 205, 207, 208].