Loneliness as deadly as obesity in increasing risk of early death
Loneliness may be a greater public health hazard than obesity, according to a study that has found that social isolation may put people at an increased risk of early death.
‘Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need -crucial to both well-being and survival,’ said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor at Brigham Young University in the United States.
“Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment,” said Holt-Lunstad. “Yet an increasing portion of the American population now experiences isolation regularly,” she said.
Loneliness and social isolation have both been associated with poor health. One study reported by Medical News Today last year, for example, suggested that loneliness may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease, while other research linked social isolation to reduced survival for breast cancer patients.
The first involved 148 studies, representing more than 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with a 50% reduced risk of early death.The second study, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, examined the role that social isolation, loneliness or living alone might have on mortality. Researchers found that all three had a significant and equal effect on the risk of premature death, one that was equal to or exceeded the effect of other well-accepted risk factors such as obesity .
“There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,” said Holt-Lunstad.
