Study Shows Link Between Mental and Physical Health

A new study published in BMJ Mental Health has found that individuals with severe mental illness are almost twice as likely to report physical multimorbidity, emphasizing the critical importance of addressing the intersection between mental and physical health.

Multimorbidity is when a person is affected by any combination of chronic disease with at least one other physical health condition, and the researchers found the psychiatric patients were 1.84 times more likely to report multimorbidity than the control group.

The study found that people with severe mental health issues also report physical conditions including metabolic diseases, hypertension, epilepsy, respiratory, vascular, kidney, and gastrointestinal diseases, as well as cancer.

Previous research has found that a large percentage of individuals in need of mental health services lack access to effective, affordable, and quality mental healthcare, especially in low-income countries.

For instance, 71% of individuals with psychosis worldwide do not receive necessary mental health services, with a vast disparity between high-income and low-income countries.

Lead author Lee Smith, Professor of Public Health at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: “Mental health underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships, and shape the world we live in. It is evident from our research that individuals with severe mental illness are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing physical multimorbidity.

“This complex relationship between severe mental illness and physical multimorbidity has far-reaching implications, including decreased treatment compliance, increased risk of treatment failure, increased treatment costs, relapsing disease, worsening prognosis, and reduced life expectancy.

“Poor clinical management of physical comorbidities in people with mental disorders exacerbates the issue, leading to an increased burden on individuals, their communities, and healthcare systems. A holistic approach is urgently needed to improve the physical, mental, and social outcomes of individuals dealing with severe mental illness and physical multimorbidity.”

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Sources:

Damiano Pizzol, Mike Trott, Laurie Butler, Yvonne Barnett, Tamsin Ford, Sharon AS Neufeld, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Christopher N Parris, Benjamin R Underwood, Guillermo Felipe López Sánchez, Matt Fossey, Carol Brayne, Emilio Fernandez-Egea, Guillaume Fond, Laurent Boyer, Jae Il Shin, Shahina Pardhan, Lee Smith. Relationship between severe mental illness and physical multimorbidity: a meta-analysis and call for action. BMJ Mental Health, 2023; 26 (1): e300870 DOI: 10.1136/bmjment-2023-300870

Materials provided by Anglia Ruskin University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Anglia Ruskin University. “Study shows link between mental and physical health.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 November 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231109121505.htm>.

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