title: Trait anxiety and somatic concerns associate with increased mortality risk: a 23-year follow-up in aging men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to examine the impact of anxiety and somatic concerns on the mortality risk during a 23-year follow-up of a representative sample of men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Finnish men aged 42-61 years (n = 2388) were followed up for a median of 23.4 years. Anxiety was assessed using baseline scores for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Psychasthenia subscale and somatic concerns were measured with the Hypochondriasis subscale. Mortality data were obtained from the National Population Register.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All-cause, injury, disease, cardiovascular, and cancer mortalities were examined as endpoints. Adjustments were performed for age, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, a history of cardiovascular disease, marital status, socioeconomic status, the Framingham Type A Behavior Pattern Scale, and life events during the 12 months before the baseline examination. Anxiety and somatic concerns predicted the all-cause mortality risk after full adjustments for sociodemographic background, lifestyle factors, and descriptors of somatic health. Regarding other forms of mortality, the risk ratios were significant after full adjustments in anxiety for injury and in somatic concerns for disease death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supported previous findings of anxiety predicting the all-cause mortality risk in men. Somatic concerns are a novel factor that needs to be taken into account while examining associations between personality and the risk of increased mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland. Electronic address: tommi.tolmunen@kuh.fi.
authors.forename: Tommi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tolmunen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: Soili M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lehto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland; Department of Psychology, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Juhani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Julkunen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Päijät-Häme Central Hospital and University of Tampere, Lahti, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, University of Tampere, Lahti, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hintikka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Päijät-Häme Central Hospital and University of Tampere, Lahti, Finland; Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Jussi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kauhanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000401:mortality; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D015984:Causality; D002423:Cause of Death; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cancer; Cardiovascular; MMPI; Personality