Worry Chronically About Illness? Study Shows Hypochondriacs Likely to Die Earlier
An abnormal level of anxiety about your health may ironically lead to you dying earlier than people without unwarranted fear of serious illness, according to a new study. The Swedish-led study, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, found that people with a diagnosis of hypochondria are at increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, including suicide. The results address “a clear gap in the literature,” lead researcher David Mataix-Cols of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden told the Associated Press. The study compared 4,100 people with diagnosed hypochondria to 41,000 people without the disorder but in similar demographic ranges. Using a study measurement called person years, researchers found that overall death rates were higher in the hypochondriac patients: 8.5 versus 5.5 per 1,000 person years. Their mean age at death was 70, as opposed to the control group’s mean age of 75. People with hypochondria also showed a high risk of certain diseases, including circulatory and respiratory illnesses.
