From December 2018 to February 2019， 6 886 patients with severe mental disorders hospitalized or managed in mental health institutions （specialized mental health institutions and community health service centers） in 11 prefecture-level cities under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province were investigated by multi-stage stratified sampling method.

Compared with the inpatients， the distribution differences in the general demographic characteristics， clinical symptoms and living status of the patients living in the community were statistically significant （P<0.05）. The composition ratio of inpatients at <18 years old, 18-44 years old and ≥60 years old were higher than those of the community residents, while the composition ratio of inpatients at 45-59 years old was lower than that of community patients (P<0.05). The composition ratio of male inpatients was higher than that of community patients, while the composition ratio of female patients was lower than that of community patients (P<0.05).The community patients were more married cohabitation， and the inpatients unmarried accounted for a higher proportion （P<0.05）； the community patients with education level below primary school accounted for a higher proportion than the inpatients （P<0.05）；the proportions of hallucinations， difficulty in communication， suspicion， motility，strange behaviors， excited talking，destroying things， pessimism， going out for no reason， self-amusement，solitude and lazy and other clinical symptoms in the patients living in community as well as the total number of hospitalization in the past were lower than the inpatients（P<0.05）， but the first age and the total duration of illness were higher than the inpatients （P<0.05）.The multivariate Logistic analysis of the patients from the two sources showed that the proportions of smoking ［OR （95%CI）=1.968（1.436－2.696）］，drinking［OR（95%CI）=1.776（1.105－3.105）］，risk assessment level ［OR（95%CI）=10.197（4.053－25.654）］ and actual sleep frequency ［OR（95%CI） = 1.855 （1.375－2.502）］of the patients living in the communities were higher than those of the inpatients（P<0.05）.The proportions of frequency of exercising less than 1－2 times a week ［OR（95%CI）=0.205（0.070－0.600）］ and being locked up ［OR（95%CI）= 0.566（0.425－0.755）］ in the patients living in communities were lower than those of the inpatients（P<0.05）.

The patients with severe mental disorders living in community in Guangdong Province are more likely to have hallucinations， communication difficulties， suspicion， moodiness， strange behavior and other clinical symptoms， as well as the bad behaviors such as smoking and drinking. In the future， behavioral intervention should be strengthened for the patients with severe mental disorders in the community， and the service functions of the community and the hospital should be balanced.