Men who suffer with anxiety are more than twice as likely to die from cancer compared to men who do not suffer with this mental health problem, a new study has found.

However, the same cannot be said for women.

According to European researchers, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common mental health problem, affecting around 5% of all adults. Symptoms include excessive worrying, insomnia, an inability to concentrate and restlessness.

The researchers used data relating to almost 20,000 people and were able to identify which GAD sufferers went on to die of cancer over a 15-year period.

They found that during this time period, men with GAD were twice as likely to die as a result of cancer compared to men without GAD. However, this link was not found in women.

"In the past, there have been inconclusive studies of the relationship between cancer and anxiety. However our study is the largest one to look at this relationship.

"We found that men with GAD are over twice as likely to die of cancer as men without this condition. This holds true even after taking account of a range of additional factors, such as age, major chronic diseases, serious mental illnesses, smoking, alcohol, physical activity and medications. Women did not show this association between anxiety and cancer," the researchers explained.

They believe that future research should focus on trying to determine whether anxiety is linked with specific types of cancer in men.

They also insisted that doctors, policy-makers and researchers ‘do not give enough importance to anxiety and this needs to change'.

"A large number of people are affected by anxiety and its potential effects on health are substantial. With this study, we show that anxiety is more than just a personality trait, but rather, it is a disorder that may be associated with risk of death from conditions such as cancer," they commented.

Details of these findings were presented at the recent 29th ECNP Congress in Vienna. The ECNP is an independent scientific association dedicated to the science and treatment of disorders of the brain.