Scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have a higher risk of death from various causes. Research results published In the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Data obtained from 61,378 OCD patients and 613,780 healthy people were used in the study. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by involuntary thoughts, images, or ideas (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions). The study also included information on 81,959 siblings, 34,085 of whom suffered from OCD (not all participants in this group were members of the same family).
The researchers collected data on the participants’ health and evaluated the risk of death from various causes for people with OCD compared to healthy people (including their siblings). In general, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder were more likely to die early than healthy people. After taking into account a number of potential confounding factors (age, gender, location, education, income), people with OCD were found to have an 82% higher risk of living a shorter life.
Those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder were prone to self-destructive actions, and this was the main unnatural cause of death of such people. Natural causes of death included diseases of the respiratory system (73% higher risk of death), genitourinary system (55%), endocrine diseases (47%), diseases of the circulatory system (33%), nervous system (21%). ) and digestive system (20%).
Previous scientists saidThe risk of death is 75% higher in men.