You CAN worry yourself to death – study
Stress and worry really may lead to an early grave, a new study has warned, the Daily Mail reports.
Researchers found anxiety and depression is associated with a raised risk of death from a variety of liver diseases.
This is the first time the connection has been identified, although the reason why is still not clear, they added.
Despite this, the association held when lifestyle factors such as obesity and alcohol were taken into consideration.
Previous research has suggested mental distress can put people at an increased risk heart disease and stroke.
And the risk factors for cardiovascular disease - such as obesity and raised blood pressure - have been linked to a common form of liver disease, known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
This is a build-up of fat within the liver cells which leads to inflammation and scarring, stopping the liver working properly.
In a similar way, suffering from anxiety and depression may be indirectly linked to an increased risk of death from liver disease, the researchers said.
As part of the study, Dr Tom Russ, of the University of Edinburgh, and his team investigated responses to a questionnaire about psychological distress in more than 165,000 people.
They then tracked people's progress over a ten-year period, examining who died and the causes of their death.
The study took into account factors such as alcohol consumption, obesity, diabetes, and socioeconomic status.
People who scored highly for symptoms of psychological distress were more likely to later die from liver disease than those with lower scores, they found.
Dr Russ said the link between mental distress and liver disease remained even after they accounted for different factors.
He told MailOnline: 'This type of study can't show cause and effect.
'Therefore, it's possible they could have had undiagnosed liver disease, and symptoms from this were causing the psychological distress.
'But even when we looked at just the deaths of people who died later in life – the association was still there.'
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