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Background: Depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders have been associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). It is unclear whether this association between mental health and CHD is present across a wider range of mental disorders., Methods and Results: Participants were 1 107 524 Swedish men conscripted at a mean age of 18.3 years. Mental disorders were assessed by psychiatric interview on conscription, and data on hospital admissions for mental disorder and CHD were obtained from national registers during 22.6 years of follow-up. An increased risk of incident CHD was evident across a range of mental disorders whether diagnosed at conscription or on later hospital admission. Age-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) according to diagnoses at conscription ranged from 1.30 (1.05, 1.62) (depressive disorders) to 1.90 (1.58, 2.38) (alcohol-related disorders). [corrected]. The equivalent figures according to diagnoses during hospital admission ranged from 1.49 (1.24-1.80) (schizophrenia) to 2.82 (2.53-3.13) (other substance use disorders). Associations were little changed by adjustment for parental socioeconomic status, or body mass index, diabetes mellitus, and blood pressure measured at conscription, but they were partially attenuated by the adjustment for smoking, alcohol intake, and intelligence measured at conscription, and for education and own socioeconomic position., Conclusions: Increased risk of incident CHD is present across a range of mental disorders and is observable when the disorders are diagnosed at a young age.

Three studies that examined the links between affective personality, as constructed from responses to the Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) Scale (PANAS), and individuals' self-report of self-esteem, intrinsic motivation and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) depression in high school students and persons in working occupations are described. Self-report estimations of several other neuropsychiatric and psychosocial variables including, the Uppsala Sleep Inventory (USI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) test, Dispositional optimism, Locus of control, the Subjective Stress Experience test (SSE) and the Stress-Energy (SE) test, were also derived. Marked effects due to affective personality type upon somatic and psychological stress, anxiety and depression, self-esteem, internal and external locus of control, optimism, stress and energy, intrinsic motivation, external regulation, identified regulation, major sleep problems, problems falling asleep, and psychophysiological problems were observed; levels of self-esteem, self-motivation and BDI-depression all produced substantial effects on health and well-being. Regression analyses indicated PA was predicted by dispositional optimism (thrice), energy (thrice), and intrinsic motivation, and counter predicted by depression (twice) and stress (twice); and NA by anxiety (twice), stress (twice), psychological stress, identified regulation, BDI depression and psychophysiological problems, and counter predicted by internal locus of control and self-esteem. BDI-depression was predicted by negative affect, major sleep problems and psychophysiological problems (Study III), self-esteem by dispositional optimism and energy, and counter predicted by anxiety, depression and stress (Study I), and intrinsic motivation by dispositional optimism, energy, PA and self-esteem (Study II). These convergent findings are interpreted from a perspective of the cognitive-emotional expressions underlying behavioural or presymptomatic profiles presenting predispositions for health or ill health.

The entire middle-aged male urban population of a Swedish city, as defined by a census in November 1969, was assessed for any mental hospital hospitalization during a 3-year period (1978-1980), as well as for any general hospital hospitalization during a 10-year period (1970-1979) within the catchment area. Inpatients of the mental hospital population belonging to the cohort and put in the categories 'Psychiatric alcoholic spectrum' and 'Severe depression' were studied for diagnoses of physical illness during any general hospital hospitalization. The psychiatric alcoholic spectrum was associated positively with infections, injuries, alcohol intoxication, pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, arthritis/rheumatic diseases and duodenal peptic ulcer; and negatively with malignant neoplasms, myocardial infarction, gallstone disease and urolithiasis. Severe depression was associated positively with infections, myocardial infarction, asthma and alcohol intoxication. A nosologic taxonomy, aimed at explaining the epidemiological associations recorded, is suggested.