Does happiness itself directly affect mortality? The prospective UK Million Women Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Poor health can cause unhappiness and poor health increases mortality. Previous reports of reduced mortality associated with happiness could be due to the increased mortality of people who are unhappy because of their poor health. Also, unhappiness might be associated with lifestyle factors that can affect mortality. We aimed to establish whether, after allowing for the poor health and lifestyle of people who are unhappy, any robust evidence remains that happiness or related subjective measures of wellbeing directly reduce mortality.

Methods

The Million Women Study is a prospective study of UK women recruited between 1996 and 2001 and followed electronically for cause-specific mortality. 3 years after recruitment, the baseline questionnaire for the present report

SUBMITTER: Liu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5075047 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature