Study: Anxiety Linked to Skin Disease

Anxiety disorders tend to be followed by skin diseases, according to psychologists at the University of Basel in Switzerland and Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.

The study, which appears in the journal PLOS ONE, also found that arthritis and digestive diseases are more common after depression.

Researchers analyzed data from a representative sample of 6,483 teenagers from the US aged between 13 and 18. They found that some physical diseases tend to occur more frequently in children and adolescents if they have previously suffered from certain mental disorders. Likewise, certain mental disorders tend to occur more frequently after the onset of particular physical diseases.  

Affective disorders such as depression were frequently followed by arthritis and diseases of the digestive system, while the same relationship existed between anxiety disorders and skin diseases. Anxiety disorders were more common if the person had already suffered from heart disease, the study showed. A close association was also established for the first time between epileptic disorders and subsequent eating disorders.

“Findings suggest that mental disorders are antecedent risk factors of certain physical diseases in early life, but also vice versa,” the researchers conclude. “Our results expand the relevance of mental disorders beyond mental to physical health care, and vice versa, supporting the concept of a more integrated mental-physical health care approach, and open new starting points for early disease prevention and better treatments, with relevance for various medical disciplines.”