King's College London - Black dog's dangerous bite

A study indicates that depression is as deadly as smoking. By matching survey data and a mortality database, researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and Norway's University of Bergen found that over the four years examined, the risk of mortality among the depressed was as high as it was for smokers. Robert Stewart, senior lecturer and leader of the institute's research team, said: "Unlike smoking, we don't know how causal the association with depression is, but it does suggest that more attention should be paid to this link because it persisted after adjusting for many factors."