People with fragile mental health have a shorter life expectancy than others

Several studies suggest that various mental disorders are associated with a higher risk of mortality than in the general population. The biological age of people affected by a mental disorder would be higher than their real age.

Suffering from a mental health problem such as depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety disorder during one’s lifetime would imply a shorter life expectancy and more age-related illnesses, compared to the general population. During the European Congress of Psychiatry held in Paris from March 25 to 28, researchers presented the results of their work on the link between mental illness and a metabolic profile that is “older” than normal.

” It is now possible to predict a person’s age from their blood metabolitessaid Dr. Julian Mutz of the King’s College of London, lead author of the study. We found that, on average, people with lifetime mental illness had a metabolic profile that suggested they were older than their true age. For example, people with bipolar disorder had blood markers indicating that they were about 2 years older than their chronological age. “.

In fact, a person’s chronological age can differ from their biological age, which can be “viewed” in the cells and can be modified by way of life, for example. 110,780 people — whose data was available in the UK Biobank – participated in the study. It shows that people with poor mental health are also more likely to develop other conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

Dr Sara Poletti, of the San Raffaele University Scientific Institute in Italy, who did not work on the research, spoke of its importance: The study provides a possible explanation for the higher prevalence of metabolic diseases and age-related diseases in patients with mental disorders. Understanding the mechanisms underlying accelerated biological aging could be crucial for the development of prevention and appropriate treatments to respond to the growing difficulty of integrated management of these disorders. “.

Frailty and life expectancy

A large study including more than 7 million adults who have lived in Denmark has shown that people with mental disorders have a shorter average life expectancy than others: around 10 years for men and 7 years for women. women.

A more recent study focused on the mortality risk associated with frailty in people with a lifetime history of mental disorders, compared to those without. Frailty is a medical syndrome characterized by a decline in the functioning of several physiological systems; people with mental disorders have higher than average levels of frailty.

Analyzes of nearly 300,000 middle-aged and older adults confirm that people with mental disorders have higher risks of death from all causes than the group without mental disorders. Also, the highest hazard ratio was seen in people with bipolar disorder and frailty, compared to people without mental disorders or frailty.