Depression may slow healing of mouth tissue sores: Report

The healing of wounds in the mouth and on other mucous membranes appears to be slowed in depressed people, according to a report in Psychosomatic Medicine.

Mounting evidence suggests that psychosocial stress can delay wound healing, but the studies contain literature almost exclusively pertained to skin wound healing, Dr Phillip T. Marucha, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues point out.

To see if psychological factors affect the healing of mucosal tissues, which is a process markedly different from skin healing, the researchers recruited 193 undergraduate students with high or low scores on standard tests for depression.