PTSD AND DEPRESSION ARE KILLING MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN

Megan Brooks in the Vol. 49, No. 1, January, 2021 edition of Clinical Psychiatry News reported on studies indicating that middle-aged women with PTSD and comorbid depression are nearly four times more likelly to die from early death as are matched peers who do not have PTSD and comorbid depression. More severe symptoms led to greater risk of early death and fewer symptoms less risk. This highlights the critical importance of identifying and treating psychiatric illnesses in general health practices according to Dr. Roberts who was an author of a study published online Dec 4 in JAMA Network Open (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.27935). These researchers studied more than 51,000 mostly white women for 9 years from 2008-2017. They had a mean age of 53.3 years in 2008 at the start of the study. Women in this study who had high levels of PTSD [six or seven symptoms] were almost 4 times as likely to die during the follow-up period than their peers without PTSD symptoms. Even women with moderate PTSD [four of five symptoms] or with subclinical PTSD and depression were at increased risk for early death. The deaths were from all major causes of death in middle-aged women.

The authors conclude that these findings provide additional evidence that mental health is fundamental to physical health and more specifically how important it is to identify and treat middle-aged women with PTSD and depression.