Noncommunicable diseases, which are conditions that are not due to a pathogen, affect millions of people the world over.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that each year, these conditions — including chronic respiratory diseaseTrusted Source, diabetes, and CVD — cause 41 millionTrusted Source deaths worldwide.
Noncommunicable diseases have long-term effects on the body, and that is why they can have a profound impact on a person’s mental health, according to research.
For instance, people living with diabetes are at increased risk of developing anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Moreover, individuals with CVD have a higher likelihoodTrusted Source of experiencing chronic stress, mood disorders, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Similarly, people who have a chronic respiratory disease are at elevated risk of developing anxiety and mood disorders.
A research team from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom has shown that the mortality risk among people living with a noncommunicable disease is more than doubled if they also have a psychiatric condition.
The researchers believe that improving the assessment, treatment, and follow-up of people with psychiatric conditions could help reduce the mortality risk for those with chronic noncommunicable diseases.
The results of this population-based cohort study appear in PLOS Medicine.What is comorbidity?
Comorbidity means that a person has more than one health condition. The authors of the current study were interested in analyzing cases of individuals with a noncommunicable disease and a psychiatric condition.
Medical News Today spoke with the study’s lead author Dr. Seena Fazel, a professor of forensic psychiatry and honorary consultant forensic psychiatrist at the University of Oxford.
He explained that previous studies revolved around the effects of psychiatric comorbidities on suicide or premature mortality from other conditions, such as epilepsy. Others focused on groups at high risk, such as individuals on release from prison and people without housing.
“In this study, we wanted to examine mortality risks for three common chronic noncommunicable diseases, where identification of modifiable psychiatric risk factors needed clarification,” he explained to MNT.
Psychiatric comorbidity and noncommunicable diseases
During the study, the researchers examined data from 1,074,222 people born between 1932 and 1995. Of the participants, 255,579 had diabetes, 249,825 had chronic respiratory diseases, and 568,818 had CVD.
The researchers also identified psychiatric disorders using medical records. The disorders included depression, mood disorders, alcohol use disorder, drug misuse disorder, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
According to the study authors, more than one-quarter of the participants had a co-occurring lifetime diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder.Analyzing the results
At the conclusion of the study, Dr. Fazel and his team found that within 5 years of diagnosis of a noncommunicable disease, about 7% of the participants died from any cause. They also found that 0.3% of that same group died by suicide.
The researchers associate comorbid psychiatric disorders with higher all-cause mortality. People with chronic respiratory disease and psychiatric comorbidity had a premature death rate of 15.4%, compared with 5.5% in individuals with chronic respiratory disease alone.
Likewise, people with CVD and psychiatric comorbidity showed premature mortality rates of 21.1%, compared with 9.1% for those without comorbid psychiatric disorders.
The study authors also found that the suicide rate was higher in people with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Individuals with CVD and psychiatric comorbidity showed suicide rates of 1.6%, compared with a 0.1% suicide rate in those with CVD without psychiatric comorbidity.
The noncommunicable diseases included in the study have a genetic component, which is why the researchers adjusted their analysis to include siblings as the participants in the control group.
They found that premature death and suicide were more common in people with both a noncommunicable disease and a psychiatric condition than they were in a sibling with neither.
“The use of large population-based data sets that included sibling controls — to better account for confounds — allowed for precision in the risk estimates,” Dr. Fazel explained.
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