CANTIKA.COM, Jakarta – A retrospective study entitled “Association Depression and Anxiety with Accumulating Chronic Conditions”, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that women of all ages and younger men with anxiety and depression were more likely to have certain chronic illnesses.
Quoted from the Indian Express on Sunday, May 15, 2022, this study analyzed health data on 40,360 adults from Olmsted County in Minnesota, which was taken from the medical records of the Rochester Epidemiology Project.
For this study, the participants were divided into three age groups: 20, 40, and 60 years. Furthermore, they were divided into four groups with anxiety, depression, anxiety and depression, and none emergency or depression.
Compared with participants who did not experience anxiety or depression, women in all three age groups and men in their 20s who had depression or anxiety and depression had a significantly higher risk of developing chronic conditions, such as: hypertensionasthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and most cancers.
In the three age groups, women in their 20s who had anxiety and depression were at the highest risk of developing chronic disease, with a more than 61 percent increased risk compared with participants without mental disorders.
The least likely is women in their 60s who experience single anxiety. As for men, those with anxiety and depression in the 20-year age group were most likely to develop the chronic condition, with a nearly 72 percent increased risk.
Men with anxiety in the 60 age group were least likely, with a reduced risk of more than 8 percent. Senior consultant, clinical psychology and psychotherapy and Lissun India chief medical officer, doctor Preeti Singh agreed with the findings of the study. He also said that chronic illness also affects mental health. “There is enough research to tell us that when a patient has a mental health condition it will take longer to recover from a physical illness, unless the underlying mental health problem is treated or cured. And vice versa,” says Singh.
Singh further said that any man or woman diagnosed with a chronic condition would also have a higher risk of developing mental health conditions. This affects each other, because chronic physical conditions require many transformations and changes in terms of quality of life and lifestyle, from affecting their work, to relationships and of course, treatment itself.
In cases such as cancer or chronic kidney conditions the treatment is invasive, intense, and frequent. “All this creates dissonance and stress for patients. As a result, they become isolated, withdrawn and do not seek help. The shock of chronic illness itself can be life-threatening. Also, feelings of denial and hopelessness are natural reactions at first,” Singh says.
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