New research shows that people with a lifetime history of mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety disorders have blood markers that suggest they are older than their actual age.

Dr Julian Mutz and Prof Cathryn Lewis, from King’s College London, examined data on 168 different blood metabolites from 110,780 participants in the UK Biobank. They linked this data with information about whether individuals had a history of mental illness and found that those with psychiatric disorders had a metabolite profile that would be expected to emerge in later life.

Lead researcher Dr. Julian Mutz, who presented the study at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, said:

“It is now possible to estimate people’s age from their blood metabolites. We found that, on average, those with a lifetime history of mental illness had a metabolite profile that suggested they were older than their actual age. For example, people with bipolar disorder had blood markers that suggested they were about 2 years older than their chronological age.”

Health and life expectancy

People with psychiatric disorders tend to have shorter lives and poorer quality of health than the general population. Impact estimates vary by mental health condition. People with psychiatric disorders are often more prone to developing conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and these conditions worsen with age.

A 2019 study found that life expectancy for people with psychiatric disorders is about 10 years shorter for men and seven years shorter for women (compared to the general population).

Dr. Mutz continued:

“Our findings suggest that the bodies of people with psychiatric disorders tend to be older than expected for an individual their age. This may not explain all the differences in health and life expectancy between those with psychiatric disorders and the general population, but it does suggest that accelerated biological ageing may be an important factor.”

Commenting on the results, study co-author Dr. Sara Poletti said:

“This is an important study as it provides a possible explanation for the higher prevalence of metabolic and age-related diseases in patients with mental illness. Understanding the mechanisms underlying accelerated biological aging may be crucial for the development of prevention and specific treatments to address the increasing challenges of integrated management of these disorders.”

SOURCE:

– NeuroscienceNews. (27.03.2023). Bodies of People With Mental Illness Are Biologically Older Than Their Actual Age.