A major new study from the University of Hong Kong has found that people living with depression are twice as likely to die early and nearly 10 times more likely to die by suicide than people without depression.
The study shows that while depression is a serious health risk, early and effective treatment can greatly reduce these dangers and help people live longer, healthier lives.
This research, published in World Psychiatry, is the largest of its kind. It looked at data from 268 long-term studies that followed more than 10 million people with depression and almost 2.8 billion people without it.
The data came from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, China (including Hong Kong), Singapore, and Korea.
The results clearly show that depression raises the risk of death from many causes. This includes not only suicide, which was nearly 10 times more likely among people with depression, but also physical diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hormone disorders, and brain disorders.
Professor Chang Wing-chung, one of the lead researchers, explained that people with depression often develop other health problems. This may be due to unhealthy habits such as smoking, not exercising, eating poorly, and not managing health conditions well.
Depression can also make it harder for people to stick to medical treatments, which may further raise the risk of dying early.
One of the key findings was that the risk of dying is highest within the first 180 days after being diagnosed with depression. During this period, people with depression were 11 times more likely to die than those without depression. This highlights why early diagnosis and treatment are so important.
The study also looked at different types of depression. People with psychotic depression—a more severe form with symptoms like hallucinations or delusions—had a 61% higher risk of death compared to those with regular depression.
People with treatment-resistant depression (when standard treatments don’t work well) had a 27% higher risk.
Younger and older people with depression also faced higher suicide risks. Women under age 25 with depression were six times more likely to die early than their peers without depression. The suicide risk was 10 times higher for people under 25 and 13 times higher for those over 60.
The good news is that treatment works. The study found that antidepressant medications lowered the risk of death by about 20%. For people who received electroconvulsive therapy (a type of brain stimulation used in severe cases), the risk of death dropped by nearly 30%.
The benefits were even greater for people with other health problems, where antidepressants cut the risk of death by up to 30%.
Professor Chang stressed that depression is not just a mental illness—it’s a serious public health issue. But it is also a treatable condition. He called for more efforts to find depression early and to make sure people get the support and treatment they need.
Worldwide, more than 330 million people live with depression. It affects not just the people who have it, but also their families, communities, and economies. The researchers urged governments, healthcare workers, and the public to take depression seriously and act early.
In conclusion, this huge study confirms that depression greatly increases the risk of death and suicide. But it also shows that with the right care—such as medication, therapy, or brain stimulation—these risks can be reduced. Early support and treatment are key to helping people with depression live longer, healthier lives.
If you care about mental health, please read studies about Middle-aged women with no kids may have this mental issue and findings of scientists find a cause of mental illnesses induced by childhood abuse.
For more about mental health, please read studies about Frequent painkiller use linked to mental health risks in these people and findings of Common depression drugs may offer new treatment for bipolar disorder.
The study is published in World Psychiatry.
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