A new study published in The Lancet delves deeper into how mental disorders affect life expectancy. Findings showed that women and men with these conditions die between seven and 10 years earlier than the general population, respectively, reports Aarhus University’s School of Business and Social Sciences in Denmark.

Researchers used register data from 7.4 million Danish people between 1995 and 2015 to examine mortality for those with different types of mental disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders and substance use disorders. Their investigation included how mortality rates differed according to the type of disorder, age and sex.

Results showed that the average life expectancy of women and men with mental disorders was seven and 10 years shorter, respectively, after disease diagnosis compared with Danish people of the same age without a diagnosed mental disorder.

“People with depression or another type of mood disorder, which are among the most common mental disorders, had higher mortality rates,” said Oleguer Plana-Ripoll, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Centre for Register-based Research at Aarhus University and lead study author. “Apart from an increased risk of death due to suicide, we also confirm an increased risk of death due to somatic conditions such as cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes, etc.”

Ripoll also noted that men and women with mood disorders die almost eight and six years earlier, respectively, following a diagnosis of disease than same-age Danish individuals overall.

For similar coverage, read “Mental Health Linked to Higher Death Rates Among Those With Urological Cancers.”