by Cristina Marrone
According to Swedish research, illness anxiety disorder shortens life by five years and also increases the risk of suicide. Chronic stress and stigma may explain the findings
According to a recent Swedish study published in Jama Psychiatry, people who worry excessively about their health tend to die earlier than those who don’t. It seems paradoxical that hypochondriacs who, by definition, worry about their health but are not actually sick, enjoy a shorter life expectancy than the rest of the population. Yet the work found that people diagnosed with hypochondriasis were 84% more likely than people without the disorder to die from various causes, particularly heart disease, lung disease but above all from suicide.
Illness anxiety disorder
As Stephen Hughes, professor of medicine at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, UK, points out in an article on The Conversation, it is worth focusing on the terminology. Since the term hypochondriac has taken on a negative meaning, doctors prefer to talk about illness anxiety disorder. We can define it as a mental health disorder characterized by excessive concern about health, often with the unfounded belief that a serious illness exists. Sometimes associated with frequent visits to the doctor, while other times it involves avoiding them altogether for fear of being diagnosed with a fatal disease. The disorder affects between 4 and 6% of the general population. It affects approximately 17% of people who turn to their general practitioner.
Those suffering from hypochondriasis die 5 years earlier
The team of Swedish researchers identified the health databases from 1997 to 2020 of 4,129 individuals diagnosed with hypochondria and 41,290 without hypochondria and the study participants were matched by year of birth, sex, province of origin, marital status, level of education and family income. Over the course of approximately nine months of observation, 268 hypochondriacs and 1,761 people without hypochondria died. It emerged that hypochondriacs died on average about five years younger than those who did not suffer from hypochondria; It was discovered that for hypochondriacs the risk of death increased from both natural and unnatural causes. The researchers also noted that hypochondriasis can impact quality of life: People without hypochondriasis were more likely to be educated, married, and earn more money than hypochondriacs. The scientists also saw that hypochondriacs who died of natural causes had higher mortality from cardiovascular, respiratory and unknown causes. Curiously, they did not show an increase in cancer mortality, despite the fact that anxiety about cancer is widespread in this population.
Increases the risk of suicide
The main cause of unnatural death in the group of those suffering from illness anxiety was suicide, with an increase of at least four times compared to the rest of the cohort.
Hypochondria is closely related to psychiatric disorders. Given that the risk of suicide increases with psychiatric illnesses, the study results seem reasonable. Furthermore, people with hypochondriasis may feel stigmatized and ignored; this can increase anxiety and depression which, in some cases, can lead to suicide.
The hypochondriac’s chronic stress affects longevity
The increased risk of death from natural causes seems less easy to explain. Hypochondria is underdiagnosed – said the first author of the study Mataix-Cols, interviewed by Washington Post – so the risks of death could be even higher if undiagnosed cases are taken into account. The researcher says he has a few theories about the findings: Hypochondriacs’ lives may be shorter due to chronic stress, which may also lead them to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. Other patients may avoid visiting doctors for fear of being diagnosed with a serious illness. Alcohol and drug addictions can limit longevity and this could explain, at least in part, the increase in mortality due to illness anxiety disorder.
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December 28, 2023 (modified December 28, 2023 | 12:28)
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