Incidence of and mortality from respiratory disease in people with bipolar disorder

Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) face an elevated risk of premature mortality, with respiratory diseases serving as a major, yet historically under-analyzed, driver. This presentation delivers the first systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the prevalence and odds ratios of respiratory comorbidities in this population compared to the general population. Conducting a comprehensive search across PubMed, PsycINFO, SciELO, and Scopus, we synthesized data from eligible studies encompassing individuals with BD and control groups to evaluate conditions such as COPD, asthma, pneumonia, and lung cancer. Compared to the general population, patients with BD exhibited significantly higher odds of respiratory illness across all analyzed conditions. Furthermore, age and sex subgroup analyses revealed distinct demographic vulnerabilities, with younger patients and women showing a particularly heightened risk for specific respiratory pathologies. These findings firmly establish BD as a critical risk factor for severe respiratory morbidity, underscoring that certain subgroups face disproportionately higher risks. Ultimately, this study highlights the critical gap in current psychosomatic care and emphasizes an urgent need for targeted prevention, early screening, and integrated public health interventions within psychiatric care pathways to mitigate this inequity in mortality.