HHS HealthBeat (June 08, 2007)

Worried life

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A study finds neurotic men who became more neurotic as they grew older were more likely to die. Neurotics were chronic worriers – people with more anxiety and depression – who tended to react to stress more negatively. 

Dan Mroczek of Purdue University tracked changes in these characteristics in close to 1,700 men, and how long they lived. The study in the journal Psychological Science was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Mroczek says people who started out highly neurotic and got more neurotic as time went on did worse.

``If you had that combination, those individuals had about a 50 percent mortality rate by the end of the 18-year period. Those who did not have that combination had an average of about 20 percent.’’ (10 seconds)

And he says those who became less neurotic also were less likely to die.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

Last revised: June, 20 2007