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Epidemiologic data have associated alcohol and substance dependence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia with shortened life spans. Two new studies examine the mortality effects of specific personality traits and of comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Grossardt and colleagues assessed possible links between anxious, pessimistic, and depressive personality traits and mortality from natural causes in 7080 outpatients who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for research purposes between 1962 and 1965. During follow-up (median, 32 years), 65.5% died. In primary analyses, increased all-cause mortality was associated with these personality traits, both individually or…