New research carried out by Ki researchersng’s College of London shows that people with a history of mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorders have blood markers that suggest they are older than their actual age, something that Can you somehow explain why? people with mental health problems tend to have a shorter life expectancy and more illnesses related to age than the general population.
To reach this conclusion, Dr. Julian Mutz and the teacher Cathryn Lewis, lead authors of the research, analyzed data relating to 168 different blood metabolites in 110,780 blood samples stored in the UK Biobank. later vthey linked these data with information about whether people had a history of mental illness and found that those who had suffered a history of mental illness had a metabolite profile older than expected for their age.
“It is now possible to predict the age of people from blood metabolites”
“It is now possible to predict the age of people from blood metabolites. We found that, on average, those with a lifetime history of mental illness had a metabolite profile that implied they were older than their actual age. For example, people with bipolar disorder had blood markers indicating that they were about 2 years older than their chronological age,” Mutz explained in the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, where he presented his research.
According to the study, thes people with mental health disorders tend to have shorter lives and poorer quality of health than the general population, something that can vary based on the condition suffered. So, to Often people with mental health problems show a increased tendency to develop heart disease and diabetes, and these conditions tend to worsen with age. In fact, already a study in 2019 found that, on average, people with mental disorders had a shorter life expectancy compared to the general population of around 10 years for men and seven years for women.
Mental illnesses produce a reduction of between 7 and 10 years in life expectancy
“Our findings indicate that the bodies of people with mental health problems tend to be older than would be expected for an individual their age,” explains Mutz. “This may not explain all the differences in health and life expectancy among people with mental health problems and the general population, but it does mean that accelerated biological aging may be an important factor,” he adds. The researchers believe that if it can By employing these markers to track biological aging, this new approach may change the way in which the physical health of people with mental illnesses is assessed and therefore adopt new strategies that benefit both the physical and mental health of patients.