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To address the relationship between health and affective symptoms (anxiety or depression), researchers analyzed data from a British prospective study of 3001 people followed repeatedly since birth in 1946. Follow-up beginning at age 53 involved an average of 14 years of complete data. Case-level symptoms (i.e., suggestive of a diagnosis) of anxiety or depression were defined as the highest 16th percentile of rating-scale scores, based on U.K. population estimates.
Risks for death were significantly elevated during follow-up among people with case-level symptoms. If symptoms were found once, risk was increased 76%; if found twice or 3 to 4 times, risks were increased 87% and 134%, respectively, although these last two associations were no lon…