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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Levels of anxiety and depression as predictors of mortality
— the HUNT study | | Author(s) | Arnstein Mykletun, Ottar Bjerkeset, Simon Overland |
| Journal title | British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 195, no 2, August 2009 |
| Pages | pp 118-125 |
| Source | http://bjp.rcpsych.org |
| Keywords | Anxiety ; Depression ; Death rate [statistics] ; Correlation ; Norway. |
| Annotation | Depression is reported to be associated with increased mortality, although underlying mechanisms are uncertain. Associations between anxiety and mortality are also uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between individual and combined anxiety/depression symptom loads (using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)) and mortality over a 3-6 year period. The authors utilised a unique link between a large Norwegian population survey (HUNT-2, n = 61,349) and a comprehensive mortality database. Results showed that case-level depression was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.52, 95% CI 1.35-1.72) comparable with that of smoking (HR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.44-1.75), and which was only partly explained by somatic symptoms or conditions. Anxiety comorbid with depression lowered mortality compared with depression alone (anxiety depression interaction P = 0.017). The association between anxiety symptom load and mortality was U-shaped. In conclusion, depression as a risk factor for mortality was comparable in strength to smoking. Comorbid anxiety reduced mortality compared with depression alone. The relationship between anxiety symptoms and mortality was more complex with a U-shape and highest mortality in those with the lowest anxiety symptom loads. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090914514 A |
| Classmark | ENP: ENR: S5: 49 76N |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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