Do you suffer from an autoimmune disease?

 Do you suffer from an autoimmune disease? You may be at higher risk for depression and anxiety

According to a new large-scale study, people with autoimmune diseases are almost twice as likely to have mental health problems.

The analysis, published Wednesday in the journalBMJ Mental Health, looked at about 1.5 million people in the UK, of whom nearly 38,000 said they had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.

Twenty-nine percent of patients with autoimmune diseases have been diagnosed with a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder at some point in their lives, compared to 18% of other patients.

Overall, about 26 percent of patients with autoimmune diseases suffered from depression, 21 percent from anxiety, and 1 percent from bipolar disorder, according to the study.

Autoimmune patients were also more likely to report that one of their parents had been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

In particular, women were more likely than men to report mental health problems, even when they both had an autoimmune disease (32% versus 21%).

According to the researchers, differences between sex hormones, chromosomal factors, and circulating antibodies could help explain the differences between the sexes.

The findings highlight the link between mental and physical health problems and shed new light on the role that severe and ongoing inflammation – a hallmark of autoimmune disorders – may play in mental health.

"Many psychiatrists do not consider psychiatric disorders to be disorders above the neck," Dr. Daniel Smith, head of the division of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh and lead author of the study, said at a press conference attended by Euronews Health.

"These are whole-body disorders," he added, "with a massive comorbidity of physical health problems."

In 2025, Greenland is the most depressed country 

The study has some limitations, including the fact that 57% of the participants were female and 90% of them were Caucasian. It was also not clear whether the participants' autoimmune disorders were causing their mental health problems or whether they simply overlapped.


Nevertheless, the findings suggest that chronic inflammation may increase the risk of mental health problems, which is consistent with previous studies.

Note:

According to the study's authors, doctors should consider regular mental health screening in patients with autoimmune diseases, especially women, to refer them for early treatment, if necessary.

"If we want to understand them, we need to look at the whole body," Drs  said.

coclusion:

“Stress can be reduced in numerous ways, ranging from small changes in lifestyle to consultations with medical professionals, however these findings offer a fascinating insight into the geographical disparity in Europe when it comes to feelings of worry and stress.”