(8/7/2012)

Study: Shaky Mental Health Linked to Higher Death Risk

By Laura Blue
TIME
August 1, 2012

Even minor mental health issues may raise the risk of death, a new U.K. study finds. Among disease-free, healthy adults in the study, the more signs of psychological distress that people had, the higher the death rates they experienced - even at low levels of distress, the study authors say, and even after accounting for a large number of health conditions and health behaviors that might explain the link. In the past, other studies have also found a link between mental health and mortality risk. But to date it’s been hard to tell whether psychological distress is really contributing to poor physical health, or whether, instead, some people who are already sick - and so at higher risk of death to begin with - simply become upset or anxious because they don’t feel well physically.

View the full article here: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/01/study-shaky-mental-health-linked-to-higher-death-risk/?iid=hl-main-lede

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