Despite increased awareness about mental illness, depression remains strongly linked to a higher risk of early death - and this risk has increased for women in recent years - according to results from the 60-year Stirling County Study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. An international team of researchers looked mental health data on adults during three periods (1952-1967, 1968-1990 and 1991-2011) from a region in Atlantic Canada and linked the data to deaths in the Canadian Mortality Database. They found the link between depression and an increased risk of death was observed in all decades of the study among men, whereas it emerged among women beginning in the 1990s. The risk of death associated with depression appeared strongest in the years following a depressive episode, leading the authors to speculate that this risk could be reversed by achieving remission of depression.
Santé de la population