Other studies examining the relationship between anxiety and mortality have taken a closer look at potential influencing factors, such as gender differences. While researchers from an alternate 2018 study published in the British Journal of Psychology did observe a connection between anxiety disorders and early death, this association was only seen in men. Out of more than 3,100 study participants in the Netherlands, older men diagnosed with anxiety were 87% more susceptible to death over a seven-year follow-up period.
More recent research has examined how different types of anxiety may also impact mortality rates. In a 2023 study published in BMC Psychiatry, researchers analyzed health data from thousands of patients in the UK, including those who had been diagnosed with anxiety and those who had not. The study team categorized patients’ anxiety as either phobias, stress-related, or other types of anxiety. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorders fell into the “other” category, while post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was considered a stress-related anxiety sub-type. Although anxiety, as a whole, was associated with a slightly higher mortality risk, this was not the case for all sub-types. While “other” anxiety types were positively correlated with mortality, no such relationship was found with phobias, and “stress-related” anxiety sub-types actually showed a decrease in the risk of all-cause death.
