United States: Individuals with an autoimmune disorder are approximately two times as likely to experience mood issues (such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder), reports a new mass-scale report.
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The risk of mood conditions is between 87 to 97 percent higher among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, IBD, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and Graves syndrome, the researchers attributed June 24 in the BMJ Mental Health.
The researchers also found that even when other variables, such as age, income, and family history of psychiatric disorders, were taken into consideration, this risk still remained high.
According to the research team led by Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots with the University of Edinburgh Center for Clinical Brain Sciences in the UK, “Together, these results support the hypothesis that exposure to chronic inflammation may be associated with a greater risk for affective disorders,” US News reported.
Autoimmune Disease Doubles Risk of Depression and Anxiety
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A large-scale study analyzing data from over 1.5 million UK participants has revealed that individuals with autoimmune diseases face nearly double the risk of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and… pic.twitter.com/DbnUIqGApO
To conduct the research, researchers resorted to the data of 1.5 million individuals taking part in a brand-new large-scale UK health study.
When people were recruited into the never-ending study, they gave an account of their physical and mental histories.
Overall, 37,800 or more of the study subjects indicated to have lived with one autoimmune condition. The results also indicate about 29 percent of individuals with an autoimmune condition have reported to have previously been diagnosed with a mood disorder, in contrast with 18 percent of the general population.
This was observed in over 25 percent as compared to 15 percent diagnosed with depression and 21 percent as compared to almost 13 percent with anxiety.
The results showed that women with autoimmune diseases were especially susceptible to mood disorders, 32 percent versus 21 percent in men.
“Theories suggest that sex hormones, chromosomal factors, and differences in circulating antibodies may partly explain these sex differences,” as the researchers stated.
Researchers observed that women who were depressed had elevated concentrations of inflammatory chemicals in their blood.