Women with mental illness are less likely to be screened for breast cancer, according to a recent study.

Previous studies have shown that there is a higher mortality rate due to cancer in people with mental illness, perhaps because of high rates of risk factors such as smoking. In addition, it appears cancer is often detected later in those with mental illness.

"People with mental illness receive suboptimal medical care," researchers wrote in the study. "An important question is whether women with a mental illness are less likely to be screened for breast cancer than those who do not have mental health issues. Could the diagnosis of a mental health condition prejudice receipt of a screening mammogram?"

For the study, UK-based researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Greenwich reviewed 24 publications reporting breast cancer screening practices in women with mental illness (around 700,000), and five studies investigating screening for those in distress but who had not been diagnosed with a mental illness (nearly 21,500).

They found that there were significantly reduced rates of mammography screening in women with mental illness, depression and severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. The effect was not present in women with distress alone, suggesting distress was not the explanation.

Mental ill health was linked with 45,000 missed screens which potentially could account for 90 avoidable deaths per annum in the UK alone.

"This is partly explained by poorer attendance but also partly explained by willingness of staff to treat a patient's medical condition at the same time as a mental health condition," researcher Alex Mitchell said in a statement. "Clearly patients with mental illness should receive care that is at least comparable with care given to the general population. Every effort should be made to educate and support women with mental illness called for screening."

The findings are detailed in the journal BJPsych.