A new UK study has found that psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression could be directly linked to the speed in which physical wounds are able to heal.

The research, which comes from the University of Manchester, assessed a group of 176,827 patients who were admitted to hospital for four specific surgical procedures, and found that poorly-healed wounds or readmissions were more common in patients who were also affected by mental health conditions.

According to the study, the odds of patients with ‘moderate’ anxiety or depression having to be readmitted for a ‘wound complication’ were approximately 1.20 greater than those who did not.

The research, which was recently published in the British Journal of Surgery, also found that patients with mental health conditions were more likely to need to stay in hospital for a longer time period following readmission.

Philip Britteon, lead researcher at the University of Manchester’s Centre for Health Economics, said: “There have been several small studies which show the importance of mental health to wound healing, but not on a sample of this scale”.