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| Oct. 21, 2003 -- Not only is patience a virtue, it's also good for your heart. A new study shows that young adults with impatient or hostile attitudes have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure when they get older. Researchers say the findings show that individual aspects of the infamous "type A personality" attitude may be responsible for raising the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease among young and middle-age adults. Previous studies on the link between the type A personality and heart disease have produced conflicting results. But researchers say that might be because of the fact that the type A personality has many dimensions. Researchers say this is the first study to examine the role of the following three main components of the type A personality type in influencing the long-term risk of high blood pressure: " Time urgency/impatience " Achievement striving/competitiveness " Hostility More than 43 million American adults suffer from high blood pressure, defined as having a systolic (the top number) equal or greater than 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) equal or greater than 90 mm Hg. High blood pressure is a well-known risk factor for heart disease. Hostility, Impatience Raise Blood Pressure Risk The study, published in the Oct. 22-29 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at how each of these type A personality factors as well as depression and anxiety were linked to the long-term risk of high blood pressure in a group of more than 3,000 adults aged 18 to 30 years. Researchers followed the participants for 15 years. They found that the higher the person scored on tests of impatience and hostility during young adulthood, the more likely they were to develop high blood pressure later in life -- regardless of their other risk factors for high blood pressure, such as age, sex, race, education, body mass index (BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height), physical activity level, or blood pressure at the start of the study. The study also showed a consistent link between achievement striving and competitiveness and high blood pressure risk among white men only. No consistent patterns of risk were found for depression or anxiety and high blood pressure risk. Researcher Lijing L. Yan, PhD, MPH, and colleagues of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., say the results are consistent with the most recent studies that have shown hostility increases high blood pressure risks. In an editorial that accompanies the study, Redford B. Williams, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues say that solid scientific evidence on the effects of stress and other psychosocial factors on health have been emerging for the last 30 years. Even though much more research is needed to understand how factors like attitude affect heart risks, they say behavioral and drug treatment approaches that target these psychosocial risk factors "already have shown considerable promise for reducing disease and improving health and well-being." SOURCE: Yan, L. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 22-29, 2003; vol 290: pp 2138-2148. © 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
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| I will add articles relative to different pages and post the link in the 'LINKS' section and on the pages- Lee |
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| Chill Out, or Face Rising Health Risks When Hostility Rises With Age, so Do Unhealthy Behaviors By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD on Thursday, October 23, 2003 > Email to a friend > Printer-friendly version Oct. 23, 2003 -- People who don't mellow out with age may face rising health risks as they get older. A new study shows that men and women who become more hostile as they age may double their risk of obesity, depression, and poor social support. Not only does their health suffer, but researchers also found that the careers of increasingly hostile people may also fail to live up to their expectations. Researchers say the vast majority of people mellow out and become less hostile with age, but a significant number of men and women hold on to their hostility or become more hostile. Tracing Hostility Through Life Hostility is one of a number of psychosocial risk factors that is linked to an increased risk of a number of illnesses, such as heart disease. In this study, researchers looked at whether changes in hostility levels over time might predict health-related risks. Researchers collected information on physical and mental health and personality traits from more than 2,200 University of North Carolina college students who started college between 1964 and 1965 and then interviewed them again in 1998. They found that nearly two-thirds of the alumni became less hostile as they aged, but about 18% maintained the same hostility level or become more hostile. People who had high levels of hostility were more likely to: * Smoke * Drink more than two alcoholic drinks per day * Have low levels of social support * Become depressed * Achieve less than they had expected in their career and relationships * Report that their family life had changed for the worse Researchers say all of those factors could add up to a higher risk of heart disease. Alumni who became more hostile after college had a significantly higher risk of: * Obesity * Feeling socially isolated * Avoiding exercise * Eating a high-fat diet * Negative changes in economic life, work life, and physical health In addition, women who became more hostile also reported a lower income than those who had mellowed out. Researchers say having higher levels of hostility at midlife raises risk of health problems, and future research should look at developing interventions to help people reduce hostility. SOURCES: Siegler, I. Psychosomatic Medicine, Sept/Oct. 2003; vol 65. News release, Health Behaviors News Service. © 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
| Nationa inst of health Stress and Disease: New Perspectives By Harrison Wein, Ph.D. For thousands of years, people believed that stress made you sick. Up until the nineteenth century, the idea that the passions and emotions were intimately linked to disease held sway, and people were told by their doctors to go to spas or seaside resorts when they were ill. Gradually these ideas lost favor as more concrete causes and cures were found for illness after illness. But in the last decade, scientists like Dr. Esther Sternberg, director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have been rediscovering the links between the brain and the immune system. The Immune System and the Brain When you have an infection or something else that causes inflammation such as a burn or injury, many different kinds of cells from the immune system stream to the site. Dr. Sternberg likens them to soldiers moving into battle, each kind with its own specialized function. Some are like garbage collectors, ingesting invaders. Some make antibodies, the “bullets” to fight the infectious agents; others kill invaders directly. All these types of immune cells must coordinate their actions, and the way they do that is by sending each other signals in the form of molecules that they make in factories inside the cell. “It turns out that these molecules have many more effects than just being the walkie-talkie communicators between different kinds of immune cells,” Dr. Sternberg says. “They can also go through the bloodstream to signal the brain or activate nerves nearby that signal the brain.” These immune molecules, Dr. Sternberg explains, cause the brain to change its functions. “They can induce a whole set of behaviors that we call sickness behavior. . . . You lose the desire or the ability to move, you lose your appetite, you lose interest in sex.” Scientists can only speculate about the purpose of these sickness behaviors, but Dr. Sternberg suggests that they might help us conserve energy when we’re sick so we can better use our energy to fight disease. These signaling molecules from the immune system can also activate the part of the brain that controls the stress response, the hypothalamus. Through a cascade of hormones released from the pituitary and adrenal glands, the hypothalamus causes blood levels of the hormone cortisol to rise. Cortisol is the major steroid hormone produced by our bodies to help us get through stressful situations. The related compound known as cortisone is widely used as an anti-inflammatory drug in creams to treat rashes and in nasal sprays to treat sinusitis and asthma. But it wasn’t until very recently that scientists realized the brain also uses cortisol to suppress the immune system and tone down inflammation within the body. Stress and the Immune System This complete communications cycle from the immune system to the brain and back again allows the immune system to talk to the brain, and the brain to then talk back and shut down the immune response when it’s no longer needed. “When you think about this cross-talk, this two-way street,” Dr. Sternberg explains, “you can begin to understand the kinds of illnesses that might result if there is either too much or too little communication in either direction.” According to Dr. Sternberg, if you’re chronically stressed, the part of the brain that controls the stress response is going to be constantly pumping out a lot of stress hormones. The immune cells are being bathed in molecules which are essentially telling them to stop fighting. And so in situations of chronic stress your immune cells are less able to respond to an invader like a bacteria or a virus. This theory holds up in studies looking at high-levels of shorter term stress or chronic stress: in caregivers like those taking care of relatives with Alzheimer’s, medical students undergoing exam stress, Army Rangers undergoing extremely grueling physical stress, and couples with marital stress. People in these situations, Dr. Sternberg says, show a prolonged healing time, a decreased ability of their immune systems to respond to vaccination, and an increased susceptibility to viral infections like the common cold. Some Stress is Good People tend to talk about stress as if it’s all bad. It’s not. “Some stress is good for you,” Dr. Sternberg says. “I have to get my stress response to a certain optimal level so I can perform in front of an audience when I give a talk.” Otherwise, she may come across as lethargic and listless. But while some stress is good, too much is not good. “If you’re too stressed, your performance falls off,” Dr. Sternberg says. “The objective should be not to get rid of stress completely because you can’t get rid of stress — stress is life, life is stress. Rather, you need to be able to use your stress response optimally.” The key is to learn to move yourself to that optimal peak point so that you’re not underperforming but you’re also not so stressed that you’re unable to perform. How much we’re able to do that is the challenge, Dr. Sternberg admits. This may not be possible in all situations, or for all people, because just as with the animals Dr. Sternberg studies, some people may have a more sensitive stress response than others. “But your goal should be to try to learn to control your stress to make it work for you,” Dr. Sternberg says. “Don’t just think of getting rid of your stress; think of turning it to your advantage.” Controlling the Immune Response Problems between the brain and the immune system can go the other way, too. If for some reason you’re unable to make enough of these brain stress hormones, you won’t be able to turn off the immune cells once they’re no longer needed. “There has to be an exit strategy for these battles that are being fought by the immune system, and the brain provides the exit strategy through stress hormones,” Dr. Sternberg says. “If your brain can’t make enough of these hormones to turn the immune system off when it doesn’t have to be active anymore, then it could go on unchecked and result in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or other autoimmune diseases that people recognize as inflammation.” Dr. Sternberg says that there are several factors involved in these autoimmune conditions. There are many different effects that the brain and its nervous system can have on the immune system, depending on the kinds of nerve chemicals that are being made, where they’re being made, what kind of nerves they come from, and whether they’re in the bloodstream or not. Still, at least part of the problem in these diseases seems to involve the brain’s hormonal stress response. “So if you have too much stress hormone shutting down the immune response, you can’t fight off infection and you’re more susceptible to infection,” Dr. Sternberg concludes. “Too little stress hormones and the immune response goes on unchecked and you could get an inflammatory disease.” Pinpointing the Problems Why these miscommunications between the brain and the immune system come about is still largely unknown, and involves many genes and environmental factors. But by studying animals, scientists have finally been able to start understanding how the miscommunications occur. Dr. Sternberg first started publishing work on the links between the brain and the immune system back in 1989 studying rats with immune problems. “In many of these cases it’s very hard to show the mechanism in humans,” Dr. Sternberg explains, “but you can show the mechanism in animals because you can manipulate all the different parts of the system and you can begin to understand which parts affect which other parts.” It has taken “a good ten years” to gather enough evidence in human studies to show that the principles her lab uncovered in rats were also relevant to human beings. Drugs that have been tested in rats to correct brain/immune system problems have had unpredictable effects. That is because nothing happens in isolation when it comes to the brain and the immune system. Dr. Sternberg points out that our bodies are amazing machines which at every moment of the day are constantly responding to a myriad of different kinds of stimuli — chemical, psychological, and physical. “These molecules act in many different ways in different parts of the system,” she says. Understanding how the brain and the immune system work together in these different diseases should help scientists develop new kinds of drugs to treat them that would never have occurred to them before. Taking Control Now Dr. Sternberg thinks that one of the most hopeful aspects of this science is that it tells us it’s not all in our genes. A growing number of studies show that, to some degree, you can use your mind to help treat your body. Support groups, stress relief, and meditation may, by altering stress hormone levels, all help the immune system. For example, women in support groups for their breast cancer have longer life spans than women without such psychological support. There are several components of stress to think about, including its duration, how strong it is, and how long it lasts. Every stress has some effect on the body, and you have to take into account the total additive effect on the body of all stressors when considering how to reduce stress. Perhaps the most productive way to think about stress is in terms of control. Dr. Sternberg shows a slide of an F-14 jet flying sideways by the deck of an aircraft carrier, its wings completely vertical. “The Navy Commander who flew that jet told me that he was the only one in the photo who was not stressed, and that’s because he was the one in control. The officer sitting in the seat ten feet behind him was in the exact same physical situation but was not in control. Control is a very important part of whether or not we feel stressed. So if you can learn to feel that you’re in control or actually take control of certain aspects of the situation that you’re in, you can reduce your stress response.” Studies show that gaining a sense of control can help patients cope with their illness, if not help the illness itself. Until science has more solid answers, it can’t hurt to participate in support groups and seek ways to relieve stress, Dr. Sternberg says. But what you need to remember is if you do these things and you’re not successful in correcting whatever the underlying problem is, it’s not your fault because there’s a biology to the system. “You need to know the benefits of the system,” she says, “but its limitations as well.” In other words, try not to get too stressed about being stressed. — a report from The NIH Word on Health, October 2000 For more information about this story, contact: Harrison Wein, Ph.D. Writer and Editor NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison Phone: 301-435-7489 Fax: 301-402-1485 E-mail: weinh@od.nih.gov A Word to the Wise... Stress Control First try to identify the things in your life that cause you stress: marital problems, conflict at work, a death or illness in the family. Once you identify and understand how these stressors affect you, you can begin to figure out ways to change your environment and manage them. If there’s a problem that can be solved, set about taking control and solving it. For example, you might decide to change jobs if problems at work are making you too stressed. But some chronic stressors can’t be changed. For those, support groups, relaxation, meditation, and exercise are all tools you can use to manage your stress. If nothing you do seems to work for you, seek a health professional who can help. Also seek professional help if you find that you worry excessively about the small things in life. Keep in mind that chronic stress can be associated with mental conditions like depression and anxiety disorders as well as physical problems. Seek professional help if you have: Difficulty sleeping Changes in appetite Panic attacks Muscle tenseness and soreness Frequent headaches Gastrointestinal problems Prolonged feelings of sadness or worthlessness Apple navigation Word on Health navigation Table of Contents navigation Previous Article navigation Next Article * Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and established market economies worldwide. 3 * Major depressive disorder affects approximately 9.9 million American adults,5 or about 5.0 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. 1 * Nearly twice as many women (6.5 percent) as men (3.3 percent) suffer from major depressive disorder each year. These figures translate to 6.7 million women and 3.2 million men. 5 * While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the average age at onset is the mid-20s. 4 Dysthymic Disorder * Symptoms of dysthymic disorder (chronic, mild depression) must persist for at least 2 years in adults (1 year in children) to meet criteria for the diagnosis. Dysthymic disorder affects approximately 5.4 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older during their lifetime. 1 This figure translates to about 10.9 million American adults. 5 * About 40 percent of adults with dysthymic disorder also meet criteria for major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder in a given year. 1 * Dysthymic disorder often begins in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. 4 Bipolar Disorder * Bipolar disorder affects approximately 2.3 million American adults, 5 or about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. 1 * Men and women are equally likely to develop bipolar disorder. 5 * The average age at onset for a first manic episode is the early 20s. 4 Suicide * In 2000, 29,350 people died by suicide in the U.S.8 * More than 90 percent of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable mental disorder, commonly a depressive disorder or a substance abuse disorder. 9 * The highest suicide rates in the U.S. are found in white men over age 85. 8 |
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| December 17, 2003 Staying Healthy in Times of Stress Stress Can Make You Sick, but It Doesn't Have To By Jennifer Warner WebMD Feature Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD Staying healthy is a struggle for most people even in the best of times, but when stress at home, work, or even the world around you piles up, it can really make you sick. In fact, research shows that exposure to stress can have a major impact on your physical as well as your psychological health. But it doesn't have to. There are ways to find stress relief without changing the world, but instead by making small changes in how you manage stress in your own life and set priorities. How Stress Strikes Studies show people with medical conditions such as heart disease, mental illness, or other chronic diseases are most vulnerable to the negative consequences of stress, but healthy people are also at a risk. The link between stress and heart-related problems has been widely studied, and researchers say that mental stress increases the body's demand for oxygen by raising blood pressure and heart rate. For people who already suffer from heart disease, this additional burden can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and even death. Stress can also act as a trigger for heart attack or stroke in people with undiagnosed heart disease, according to David S. Krantz, PhD, chairman of the department of medical and clinical psychology at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md. He says stress can set off dangerous plaque ruptures in people who may not know that they're in the early stages of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and those ruptures can lead to potentially life-threatening events. Steven Tovian, PhD, director of health psychology at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare in Evanston, Ill., says stress also directly affects a part of the nervous system that controls the glands, heart, digestive system, respiratory system, and skin. That means any pre-existing medical condition that is influenced by a nervous system response such as chronic pain, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), digestive disorders, or headaches is likely to become exacerbated by stress when the already overworked system becomes overloaded by additional stress. In addition, Tovian says anyone with anyone who suffers from a history of mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, is also at risk for a worsening of symptoms at times of extreme stress. Staying Healthy in Times of Stress (continued) Attitude Is Everything But you don't have to be ill to suffer from the effects of stress on your physical as well as mental health. Stress can also make healthy people more vulnerable to sickness by weakening the immune system and making it easier to catch a cold or other contagious illness. Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, says what happens is that certain components of the immune system become less effective at fighting off illness, especially those caused by viruses, when exposed to stress over days or weeks. But she says attitude plays a critical role in tempering that reaction. "The main principle is that the effect on the immune system is not a factor of what's happening in the environment, but it's an effect of your perception of it," says Segerstrom, who is assistant professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. "To the degree that you feel threatened or overwhelmed, the immune system will be affected more." Segerstrom says that people who focus only on negative information to the exclusion of more positive information will perceive more stress and, therefore, suffer more serious consequences in their mental and physical health. That's why it's important to keep a balanced perspective on events going on in the world as well as closer to home. Relieving Stress and Getting Help To ease the negative effects of stress on your health, experts recommend the following tips to reduce your stress and keep your life in balance: " Attempt to maintain a normal routine. Sticking to a schedule can help you feel more in control of your life even when the circumstances around you are chaotic. " Make and keep connections with friends, family, clergy, and other confidants. Maintaining a strong social support network can act as a buffer against stress. " Make time for things that you enjoy, whatever that may be, such as playing with your children or pets, exercise, reading a book, etc. " Give yourself a break and stay away from things that rile you in times of stress. Limit contact with people or things that cause stress, especially around bedtime. " Participate in a volunteer activity. Assisting others in a time of need can be empowering. " Take care of yourself. Don't let stress affect your diet, sleep schedule, or exercise habits. Tovian says there are also several warning signs to look for that can signal when stress levels are exceeding healthy limits. Symptoms of stress overload include: " Disruption in sleeping habits " Change in appetite or diet " Change in mood, such as a loss of optimism or feeling overwhelmed " Inability to put stress in long-term perspective or see the bigger picture " Increase in anger or irritability If you suffer from these symptoms, experts say it's important to reach out to family and friends. If your symptoms continue, seek out advice from your doctor or a mental health professional trained to deal with these issues. Therapies to help people fight the health effects of stress usually target either altering factors in the environment that are causing stress or changing how people perceive and respond to stress through counseling on stress management, biofeedback, and/or drug treatment. Published March 24, 2003. SOURCES: David S. Krantz, PhD, professor and chairman, department of medical and clinical psychology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Md. Steven Tovian, PhD, director of health psychology, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill. Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, University of Kentucky. Health Psychology, November 2002. Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association, March 26, 2002. © 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. Staying Healthy in Times of Stress (continued) Attitude Is Everything But you don't have to be ill to suffer from the effects of stress on your physical as well as mental health. Stress can also make healthy people more vulnerable to sickness by weakening the immune system and making it easier to catch a cold or other contagious illness. Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, says what happens is that certain components of the immune system become less effective at fighting off illness, especially those caused by viruses, when exposed to stress over days or weeks. But she says attitude plays a critical role in tempering that reaction. "The main principle is that the effect on the immune system is not a factor of what's happening in the environment, but it's an effect of your perception of it," says Segerstrom, who is assistant professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. "To the degree that you feel threatened or overwhelmed, the immune system will be affected more." Segerstrom says that people who focus only on negative information to the exclusion of more positive information will perceive more stress and, therefore, suffer more serious consequences in their mental and physical health. That's why it's important to keep a balanced perspective on events going on in the world as well as closer to home. Relieving Stress and Getting Help To ease the negative effects of stress on your health, experts recommend the following tips to reduce your stress and keep your life in balance: " Attempt to maintain a normal routine. Sticking to a schedule can help you feel more in control of your life even when the circumstances around you are chaotic. " Make and keep connections with friends, family, clergy, and other confidants. Maintaining a strong social support network can act as a buffer against stress. " Make time for things that you enjoy, whatever that may be, such as playing with your children or pets, exercise, reading a book, etc. " Give yourself a break and stay away from things that rile you in times of stress. Limit contact with people or things that cause stress, especially around bedtime. " Participate in a volunteer activity. Assisting others in a time of need can be empowering. " Take care of yourself. Don't let stress affect your diet, sleep schedule, or exercise habits. Tovian says there are also several warning signs to look for that can signal when stress levels are exceeding healthy limits. Symptoms of stress overload include: " Disruption in sleeping habits " Change in appetite or diet " Change in mood, such as a loss of optimism or feeling overwhelmed " Inability to put stress in long-term perspective or see the bigger picture " Increase in anger or irritability If you suffer from these symptoms, experts say it's important to reach out to family and friends. If your symptoms continue, seek out advice from your doctor or a mental health professional trained to deal with these issues. Therapies to help people fight the health effects of stress usually target either altering factors in the environment that are causing stress or changing how people perceive and respond to stress through counseling on stress management, biofeedback, and/or drug treatment. Published March 24, 2003. SOURCES: David S. Krantz, PhD, professor and chairman, department of medical and clinical psychology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Md. Steven Tovian, PhD, director of health psychology, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill. Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, University of Kentucky. Health Psychology, November 2002. Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association, March 26, 2002. © 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
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| Even Mild Depression Harms Immunity Chronic Stress, Clinical Depression Dampen Immunity By Jeanie Lerche Davis WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 Oct. 15, 2003 -- New research shows clinical depression, even in its mildest form, takes a toll on the immune system. It gives a foothold to serious health problems. A new study offers a clear picture of how the body responds to clinical depression. It builds on 25 years of research aimed at understanding the link between stress, depression, and immunity. Lead researcher Ronald Glaser, PhD, a professor of molecular science, immunology, and genetics at Ohio State University in Columbus, reports his findings in this month's Archives of General Psychiatry. His study involved 119 older people, all around age 71. Of these, 23 were taking care of spouses with dementia or Alzheimer's disease -- generally a high-stress situation, and 24 were formerly caregivers whose spouses had died. The rest had never been caregivers. Each got a flu vaccine shot. Vaccines produce an immune response, so they are a good indicator of immune health, writes Glaser. But before their flu shots, each volunteer had a blood test to measure interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels -- a measure of inflammation in the body. Higher IL-6 levels and inflammation has been linked to disability in the elderly as well as certain conditions associated with aging, such as heart disease. Each participant was also tested for clinical depression. Two weeks after the flu shot, they had blood tests done again. * Those 58 people with clinical depression symptoms had substantially higher IL-6 levels -- and thus more inflammation -- both before and after their flu shots. * Those who did not have clinical depression had lower IL-6 levels. Current caregivers were more likely to have clinical depression than others in the study. They also had the highest IL-6 levels before and after their flu shots. "Higher levels of depressive symptoms in current caregivers were likely a key factor in their increased IL-6 levels," writes Glaser. The finding points directly to the effect of chronic stress on immunity, he adds. Stress Unbalances Immunity A growing body of evidence has shown that the stresses of caregiving greatly unbalance the immune system. Caregivers take 24% longer to heal when they have small wounds. Caregivers also have more illnesses and infections that last longer. "Increased susceptibility to infectious disease and poorer recovery from infection are substantial and important problems," says Glaser. In fact, high levels of IL-6 -- for long periods of time -- can trigger long-term changes in the body's physiology. These changes lead to age-related illnesses, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, lymphoma and other cancers, and Alzheimer's disease, Glaser writes. These changes also fuel decline in physical function, leading to frailty, disability, even death, he says. All this points to the serious nature of even mild forms of clinical depression -- and the need to get treated. Also, it points to the importance of flu shots, Glaser says. Especially if you are depressed, you are more likely to get sick without the vaccine. SOURCES: Archives of General Psychiatry, Oct. 2003; vol 60: pp 1009-1014. News release, Ohio State University. © 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
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