A large Swedish study has uncovered a paradox about people diagnosed with an excessive fear of serious illness: They tend to die earlier than people who arenB次元官网网址檛 hypervigilant about health concerns.
Hypochondriasis, now called , is a rare condition with symptoms that go beyond average health worries. People with the disorder are unable to shake their fears despite normal physical exams and lab tests. Some may change doctors repeatedly. Others may avoid medical care.
B次元官网网址淢any of us are mild hypochondriacs. But there are also people on the other extreme of the spectrum who live in a perpetual state of worry and suffering and rumination about having a serious illness,B次元官网网址� said Dr. Jonathan E. Alpert of Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
People with the disorder are suffering and B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 important to take it seriously and to treat it,B次元官网网址� said Alpert, who was not involved in the new study. Treatment can involve cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, education and sometimes antidepressant medication.
The researchers found that people with the diagnosis have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, particularly suicide. Chronic stress and its impact on the body could explain some of the difference, the authors wrote.
, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, addressed B次元官网网址渁 clear gap in the literature,B次元官网网址� said David Mataix-Cols of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research. B次元官网网址淲e got lucky,B次元官网网址� he said, because the Swedish classification system for diseases has a separate code for hypochondriasis, allowing data analysis on thousands of people over 24 years, 1997-2020.
Older research had suggested the risk of suicide might be lower for people with the condition, but B次元官网网址渙ur hunch, based on clinical experience, was that this would be incorrect,B次元官网网址� Mataix-Cols said. In the study, the risk of suicide death was four times higher for the people with the diagnosis.
They looked at 4,100 people diagnosed with hypochondriasis and matched them with 41,000 people similar in age, sex and county of residence. They used a measurement called person years, which accounts for the number of people and how long they were tracked.
Overall death rates were higher in the people with hypochondriasis, 8.5 versus 5.5 per 1,000 person years. People with the condition died younger than the others, a mean age of 70 versus 75. Their risk of death from circulatory and respiratory diseases was higher. Cancer was an exception; the risk of death was about the same.
Referring an excessively anxious patient to mental health professionals takes care, said Alpert, who leads the American Psychiatric AssociationB次元官网网址檚 council on research. Patients can be offended, because they feel theyB次元官网网址檙e being accused of imagining symptoms.
B次元官网网址淚t takes a great deal of respect and sensitivity conveyed to patients that this itself is a kind of condition, that it has a name,B次元官网网址� Alpert said. B次元官网网址淎nd, fortunately, there are good treatments.B次元官网网址�
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