People with several long -term physical health problems are a significantly higher risk of developing depression, according to a study.
Researchers have found that certain combinations of diseases – in particular those cardiometabolic such as diabetes and heart disease – could more than double the probability of future depression diagnosis.
With multimorbidity – when patients live with two or more chronic conditions – continuing to put pressure on an already stretched health system, experts say that the results highlight the need for integrated care models that treat both mental and physical health.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have used data of more than 142,000 people in the British Biobank Study to examine how physical diseases interact to influence the risk of depression – a condition that is often underdiagnosed in people managing long -term physical diseases.
Participants were aged 37 to 73 and had at least a chronic physical condition but no history of depression.
Scientists have used statistical clustering techniques to group individuals by their physical disease profiles and followed the way in which these clusters linked to subsequent depression diagnoses.
A group, which included people with highest physical sickness rates, has also shown the highest risk of developing depression. This group did not have a single dominant disease, but rather a complex mixture of problems.
People with heart disease and diabetes have also turned out to be at high risk, as well as those with chronic pulmonary conditions such as asthma or Mpoc – Chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy. The conditions of the liver and the intestine also showed a significant link with depression in men and women.
Women with joint and bone problems, such as arthritis, were particularly affected, but this scheme was not as important for men.
In the most risky groups, about one in 12 people have developed depression over the next 10 years, against approximately one in 25 people without physical conditions.
Although the biological burden of the disease can play a role, researchers say that social and systemic factors could also help explain why physical multimorbidity leads to worst mental health results.
We have seen clear associations between physical health conditions and the development of depression, but this study is only the beginning. We hope that our results will encourage other researchers to investigate and unravel the links between physical and mental health problems. “”
Lauren Delong, principal and doctoral student, IT school at the University of Edinburgh
Bruce Guthrie, professor of general practice at the Center for Research on Advanced Care at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Health care often treats physical and mental health as completely different things, but this study shows that we must better anticipate and manage depression in natural persons.”
Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR innovation scientific director, said: “Use the power of data to understand the impact of chronic conditions will transform the way we treat patients in the future. NIHR’s research in this area contributes to painting a complete image of what patients are dealing with, rather than focusing on a single state of health at a time.”
The study is published in the journal Nature Communications Medicine: https://www.nature.com/articles/S43856-025-00825-7 (URL will become active after the embargo elevators). He was funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Source:
Journal reference:
DELONG, LN, et al. (2025). Analysis of clusters and the survival of British biobank data reveals associations between physical clusters of multimorbidity and subsequent depression. Communications medicine. Doi.org/10.1038/S43856-025-00825-7.