Hypochondriacs study is enough to make me feel seriously ill

A recent study from Sweden showed that people who have an excessive fear of getting sick – now called "illness anxiety disorder" rather than hypochondriasis – are more likely to die early than are those of us without the disorder.

Is that good news or bad news for hypochondriacs? 

On the bad side, if you have the disorder, you'll likely die earlier. On the plus side, at least you were right. Now everyone will feel guilty about snickering every time you got a cold and feared it is a symptom of a more serious illness.

What a quandary!

And is this conversely significant news for those who have excessive confidence in their health despite evidence to the contrary?

First the details: A study published in JAMA Psychiatry used data from the Swedish medical classification system, one of the few in the world that has a separate code for hypochondriasis . . . or "illness anxiety disorder." Researchers studied thousands of people from 1997 through 2020.

The study included more than 4,000 people with IAD and more than 40,000 others who were otherwise similar but didn't have the disorder. It turns out that people who constantly (and irrationally?) worry about illness died early at a higher rate and at an average of five years younger than those without the disorder. They were four times more likely to commit suicide and also died at a higher rate from circulatory and respiratory diseases.

We can assume this tendency has gotten worse in the internet age since we can all look up our symptoms on Google and find out that in some circumstances, we have symptoms of cancer or heart failure or the bubonic plague.

While ignoring the statement that they're likely symptoms of a cold.

But the question remains: Were the people in Sweden with IAD right after all? It seems like they were correct at least the final time (right before dying), but the question is how to address this.

An article on the study by The Associated Press highlighted a key challenge in addressing this issue: To be treated for IAD requires a medical professional to recognize it and tell the patient, who can be easily offended because they think the doctor is dismissing their suspicion of legitimate, serious illness. So IAD patients will often ironically disregard a specific diagnosis because they believe they're really sick and the doctor thinks they're lying. (Or they could be like the person in the old joke who is told they're a hypochondriac and tells the doctor, "Oh no, that too?")

My earlier question is about the flip side of this study. Does this study also mean that people who assume that symptoms are temporary and they'll be fine will be correct? Is the real finding of the Swedish study that people without IAD live five years longer?

I'm not suggesting that you should avoid going to the doctor, but does it help if you (like me) find yourself saying, "It's just a cold," every time you're sick and delaying treatment to see if something will just go away (which it often does)?

Medicine is complicated and our bodies are not machines. We know that smoking cigarettes increase the chance of cancer, that eating well and exercising is helpful, that vegetables help us and that sugar and simple carbohydrates aren't great for us.

But what about that cough? Or that new ache in your back? Are you embracing IAD if you worry that it's something serious – and perhaps contributing to your own early demise?

My conclusion: Who knows? I'm not Swedish, so it doesn't apply to me. And I'm sure this cough is just temporary.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.