Among persons with OCD, the highest MRRs were observed for deaths due to unnatural causes (ie, accidents, homicides, and suicides). This pattern of high mortality due to unnatural causes is comparable to that among persons with other severe mental disorders.14–17 A recent meta-analysis18 revealed a significant association of OCD and suicidality with an effect size of 0.66. However, most of the studies included in this meta-analysis18 focused on suicidal ideation/behavior and not on actually completed suicides. In our study, the risk of committing suicide was tripled among persons with OCD. The risk of suicide among psychiatric patients has been studied before,19–22 whereas less attention has been given to the risk and prevention of accidental deaths, even though the latter is more common. Interestingly, we observed that the risk of death by accidents was doubled among persons with OCD. Ours is the first study pinpointing an increased risk for serious accidents among persons with OCD because we are unaware of any prior studies examining the risk of accidents among persons with OCD. The reason for a higher risk of accidents could
