SynthesisBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2012
Association between psychological distress and mortality: individual participant pooled analysis of 10 prospective cohort studies.
Synthesis in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05410132 (Internet-based Mindfulness-based Training), which is not on this map. Cited by 253 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Internet-based Mindfulness-based Training (iMBT) for People With Depression: Investigation of Its Efficacy and Mechanism of Change
Who cites it
253 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 636 citations in OpenAlex.
- Common patient-reported sources of cancer-related distress in adults with cancer: A systematic review.Cancer medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of yoga on stress in stressed adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Psychological distress and metabolomic markers: A systematic review of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and subclinical distress.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Pooled it
- State care in childhood and adult mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.The Lancet. Public health · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Distress Thermometer for Screening Distress in Asian Patients with Cancer.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2021Pooled it
- Depression and anxiety in relation to cancer incidence and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Distress screening and supportive care referrals used by telephone-based health services: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Pooled it
- Comparison of risk factor associations in UK Biobank against representative, general population based studies with conventional response rates: prospective cohort study and individual participant meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2020Pooled it
- Psychological distress in relation to site specific cancer mortality: pooling of unpublished data from 16 prospective cohort studies.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2017Pooled it
- Trial
- A web-based, peer-supported self-management intervention to reduce distress in relatives of people with psychosis or bipolar disorder: the REACT RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Psychological distress and incident cardiovascular disease independent of life's essential 8: a prospective cohort study.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Prognostic significance of dynamic emotional distress during neoadjuvant therapy and surgery for resectable non-small cell lung cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Work stress and healthy aging: A conceptual framework for the Semmelweis study and the Semmelweis-EUniWell workplace health promotion model program.GeroScience · 2026Review
- Global economic burden of depression in 154 countries from 2025 to 2050.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- The relationship between food insecurity and tobacco or alcohol use in Great Britain: A representative population-based survey.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Associations Between 24-Hour Physical Behavior, Self-Perceived Stress, and Coping Self-Efficacy in Everyday Life: Ambulatory Assessment Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Depressive symptoms and incident cancer risk in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: Findings from CHARLS.Medicine · 2026Article
193 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo quantify the link between lower, subclinically symptomatic, levels of psychological distress and cause-specific mortality in a large scale, population based study.
designIndividual participant meta-analysis of 10 large prospective cohort studies from the Health Survey for England. Baseline psychological distress measured by the 12 item General Health Questionnaire score, and mortality from death certification.
participants68,222 people from general population samples of adults aged 35 years and over, free of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and living in private households in England at study baseline.
main outcome measuresDeath from all causes (n = 8365), cardiovascular disease including cerebrovascular disease (n = 3382), all cancers (n = 2552), and deaths from external causes (n = 386). Mean follow-up was 8.2 years (standard deviation 3.5).
resultsWe found a dose-response association between psychological distress across the full range of severity and an increased risk of mortality (age and sex adjusted hazard ratio for General Health Questionnaire scores of 1-3 v score 0: 1.20, 95% confidence interval 1.13 to 1.27; scores 4-6: 1.43, 1.31 to 1.56; and scores 7-12: 1.94, 1.66 to 2.26; P<0.001 for trend). This association remained after adjustment for somatic comorbidity plus behavioural and socioeconomic factors. A similar association was found for cardiovascular disease deaths and deaths from external causes. Cancer death was only associated with psychological distress at higher levels.
conclusionsPsychological distress is associated with increased risk of mortality from several major causes in a dose-response pattern. Risk of mortality was raised even at lower levels of distress.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.