Study Links Allergies to Higher Mental Health Risks

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A new large-scale study from the U.K. has found that people with allergies and atopic conditions — including food allergies, drug allergies, urticaria (hives), allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and anaphylaxis — are at a higher risk of developing mental health disorders.

“Given the high prevalence of both atopic and mental health disorders, understanding any association between the two is vital for improving patient care and for targeting interventions to reduce the burden associated with both,” wrote lead investigator Sonica Minhas, MBBS, a researcher affiliated with the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham, U.K.

A team of investigators analyzed medical records from nearly 2.5 million people diagnosed with atopic conditions and compared them with the records of over 3.1 million people without these conditions. The study followed patients for several years and looked at new diagnoses of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and self-harm. The two groups were carefully matched by age, sex and socioeconomic status to make the comparison as accurate as possible.

The investigators tracked both groups over time, looking for new diagnoses of mental health conditions and adjusted for other health and lifestyle factors, such as body weight, smoking, alcohol use and whether participants also had asthma or eczema.

The results showed a clear connection: People with allergies had a 16% higher risk of developing a mental health condition than those without. Anxiety was the most strongly linked, with a 22% higher risk. In total, about 229,000 people in the allergy group developed a mental health issue during the study, compared with about 203,000 in the nonallergy group. Importantly, these findings held up even when accounting for related conditions like asthma and eczema.

Findings suggest that people with allergic or atopic conditions are more likely to face mental health challenges — especially anxiety and depression. They highlight the importance of mental health support for individuals managing these chronic conditions and reinforce the need for a more holistic approach to care.

Besides anxiety, people with these conditions also had increased risks for the following:

• Depression (15% higher)
• OCD (20% higher)
• Eating disorders (6% higher)
• Self-harm (2% higher)

The team also confirmed that these findings weren’t just related to other common conditions like asthma or eczema. The increased risk remained even when controlling for other variables.

Results highlight the need for doctors to consider the emotional and psychological toll that allergies and atopic conditions may have — especially for people with severe reactions like anaphylaxis.

Investigators recommend future large-scale, long-term studies to better capture the nuances of disease severity and age of onset. More consistent tracking of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and subgroup analysis for high-risk groups — including people who have had anaphylaxis — could provide deeper insights. Additionally, measuring how mental health treatments affect people with atopic conditions could help guide more personalized care.

Although the study was the first large-scale primary-care based cohort study in the U.K. that examined the relationship between atopic disorders and mental health disorders, investigators mentioned some limitations. Since the data come from electronic health records, they rely on how accurately doctors document diagnoses, which can vary between practices. This inconsistency could lead to errors in identifying either allergic or mental health conditions. Additionally, the study couldn’t assess how severe each person’s condition was, or include personal factors like education level or family mental health history, which may influence the findings.

“Given the high prevalence of allergic and atopic disorders, this association underscores a substantial public mental health burden,” investigators concluded. “Primary and secondary health care services should be aware of the potential risk of mental health disorders in patients presenting with allergic and atopic disorders. Appropriate referrals for suitable psychological support should be made where possible.”