Mental disorders forecast chronic physical diseases, premature death

Poor early-life mental health may jeopardize later-life physical health, according to a new study led by a University of Michigan researcher. The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, indicates that people who experience psychiatric conditions when they are young are likely to experience excess age-related physical diseases when they are older. Leah Richmond-Rakerd, U-M assistant professor of psychology, and colleagues found that this association cannot be explained by preexisting physical illness; they ruled out the possibility of reverse causation in which having a physical illness precipitates mental health problems. Prior studies had not taken this into account. This association is present across different mental disorders and different physical diseases, she said. The researchers conducted a nationwide hospital-register study of 2.3 million New Zealanders-aged 10-60 years at baseline-followed across three decades (1988 to 2018). They tested whether individuals with mental disorders are at increased risk for subsequent chronic physical diseases and premature mortality.