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[00:00.44] A large Swedish study has found an unexpected finding about people diagnosed with extreme fear of serious illness.

[00:13.45] It found they are more likely to die earlier than people who are not as concerned about their health.

[00:23.02] Hypochondriasis, now called illness anxiety disorder, is a rare condition with symptoms that go beyond average health concerns.

[00:36.56] People with the disorder are unable to lose their fears despite normal doctor visits and lab tests.

[00:47.45] Some may change doctors repeatedly.

[00:51.97] Others may avoid medical care.

[00:54.89] Dr. Jonathan E. Alpert of Montefiore Medical Center in New York said, “Many of us are mild hypochondriacs.”

[01:07.11] But he added there are also people on the extreme side of it who are always worrying and thinking about whether they have a serious illness.

[01:20.92] People with the disorder are suffering and “it’s important to take it seriously and to treat it,” said Alpert, who was not involved in the new study.

[01:33.95] Treatment can include behavioral therapy, calming methods, education, and sometimes mental health medication.

[01:45.11] The researchers have found that people with the condition have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, including suicide.

[01:58.93] Continuing stress and its effects on the body could explain some of the differences, the writers said.

[02:07.69] The study was published recently in JAMA Psychiatry.

[02:14.07] David Mataix-Cols of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden led the research.

[02:22.58] “We got lucky,” he said, because the Swedish system for organizing disease has a separate entry for hypochondriasis.

[02:34.27] That permitted research on thousands of people over 24 years, from 1997 to 2020.

[02:45.16] Older research had suggested the risk of suicide might be lower for people with the condition.

[02:53.39] Mataix-Cols said their research found that statement was incorrect.

[03:00.03] In the study, the risk of suicide death was four times higher for people with the condition.

[03:09.07] They looked at 4,100 people with hypochondriasis and matched them with 41,000 people similar in age, sex, and where they lived.

[03:23.67] They used a measurement called person years, which measures the number of people and how long they were followed.

[03:33.23] Overall death rates were higher in the people with hypochondriasis, 8.5 instead of 5.5 per 1,000 person years.

[03:45.72] People with the condition died younger than the others, with a mean age of 70 instead of 75.

[03:55.28] The risk of death from diseases related to body systems, such as breathing and eating, was higher.

[04:04.85] The risk of death from cancer, however, was about the same.

[04:10.18] Alpert leads the American Psychiatric Association’s group on research.

[04:17.88] He said more care is needed when suggesting a patient to mental health professionals.

[04:26.11] Patients can become angry because they feel they are being accused of imagining symptoms.

[04:34.34] Alpert added, “… fortunately, there are good treatments.”