A RECENTLY PUBLISHED STUDY IN THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL PROVIDES FURTHER
E VIDENCE FOR THE LINK BE T WEEN MORTALIT Y AND DEPRESSION, WHILE ALSO SUGGESTING WOMEN
MAY BE INCRE ASINGLY VULNER ABLE TO E ARLY DE ATH.
IN 2015 ALONE, 16.1 million A merica n
adults ex perienced at lea st one major
depressive episode, according to t he
Nationa l Institute of Menta l Hea lth.
D u r i n g t he se epi sode s , pe ople m ay
notice a ra nge of sy mptoms, from low
mood a nd a n hedon i a t o ch a n ges i n
sleeping a nd eating habits. Depression
accounts for a greater rate of disability
than any other menta l hea lth condition
a nd signif ica ntly impacts the ability to
ca re for oneself. Even more concern-
ing, the Canadian Medical Association
Journal study shows that just one depres-
sive episode ra ises a person's risk of
death, and this risk can remain elevated
for up to 20 years after each episode.
AN UNSETTLING EVOLUTION
Studies about the association between
mor t a l it y a nd depres sion a re of t en
limited in duration to 10 yea rs or less,
a c c or d i n g t o s t u d y c or r e s p on d i n g
a u t h o r S t e p h e n G i l m a n , S c D ,
Investigator a nd Acting Bra nch Chief,
Hea lt h Behav ior Bra nch, Div ision of
Intramura l Population Health Research
at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute of Child Hea lth and Human
Development . T hat led resea rchers
involved in the current study to wonder
how the association persists and evolves
over time.
ASSESSING
DEPRESSION'S
LINGERING —
BY TIFFANY PARNELL
and Deadly — Impact
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