People who have experienced depressive, bipolar or anxiety disorders look older than they really are. Interesting Engineering explains the reasons. A study presented to the European Congress of Psychiatrywhich was held from March 25 to 28 in Paris, reveals that the blood indicators are responsible for this since the latter, when disturbed by mental disorders, give a higher biological age than the chronological age.
This phenomenon might explain the reasons why people with mental illnesses live less long, and why they tend to develop diseases that are generally age-related earlier than others.
Dr Julian Mutz and Professor Cathryn Lewis, of King’s College London, looked at data from 168 blood metabolites of 110,780 people from the UK Biobank. By comparing it to data from people with mental illnesses, they found that the latter had older metabolic profiles than expected.
“We can now predict a person’s age using their blood metabolites. Only, people with a history of mental illnesses have older metabolic profiles than they actually are, Dr. Mutz developed during the conference. People suffering from bipolarity, for example, have blood markers indicating that they are two years older than their chronological age.
People with mental illnesses generally live shorter and they tend to develop other illnesses, which appear most of the time as they age, such as diabetes or heart problems, explains Interesting Engineering.
Acceleration of biological age plays a role in life expectancy
A 2019 study reveals that those affected have a life expectancy of regarding ten years less for men and seven years less for women. These studies demonstrate that the acceleration of biological age in people with mental illnesses might be an important factor in research on health and life expectancy.
“If these blood markers are used to track biological age, it might change how we monitor the physical health of people with mental illnesses and ways to improve their physiological fitness,” advanced hat.
Sara Poletti, doctor at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, completes: “Understanding the mechanisms behind the acceleration of biological age might become crucial for the development of prevention and tailor-made treatments, in order to address the growing difficulties associated with these disorders.”
