Lonely people may be prone to heart disease

Lonely and isolated people may face a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, researchers report. Social isolation raised that risk by about 30 percent, exerting the same level of influence on heart health as risk factors such as anxiety and job stress, the British review found.
"Addressing loneliness and social isolation could have an important role in the prevention of two of the leading causes of ill health and mortality worldwide," said lead researcher Nicole Valtorta, a research fellow in the department of health sciences at the University of York.
"We take risk factors like obesity and physical inactivity for granted, whereas we do not yet with social isolation and loneliness," she said. "The data from our study support us taking it seriously."
But this analysis could not prove that loneliness and social isolation caused heart problems or strokes, only that an association existed, she added.
"However, if we put the study findings into context, what we found is comparable in size to the effect of other psychosocial risk factors such as anxiety and job strain. Efforts to prevent heart disease and stroke could benefit from taking social isolation and loneliness into account," Valtorta said.
The report was published online April 19 in the journal Heart. For the study, Valtorta and her colleagues analyzed data from 23 previously published studies that, in total, included over 180,000 adults, more than 4,600 of whom had heart attacks, angina or died and more than 3,000 who had suffered strokes.
The pooled data showed that loneliness and social isolation were associated with a 29 percent increased risk of heart attack or angina attack and a 32 percent increased risk of stroke. Loneliness has been linked in past research to a weakened immune system, high blood pressure and premature death, the researchers explained.
These findings suggest that loneliness and social isolation need to be taken seriously across the spectrum of medicine from medical education to guidelines and health care, said Julianne Holt-Lunstad. An associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, she co-authored an accompanying journal editorial.
    HealthDay

 

Lonely people may be prone to heart disease

Lonely and isolated people may face a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, researchers report. Social isolation raised that risk by about 30 percent, exerting the same level of influence on heart health as risk factors such as anxiety and job stress, the British review found. Addressing loneliness and social isolation could have an important role in the prevention of two of the leading causes of ill health and mortality worldwide, said lead researcher Nicole Valtorta, a research fellow in the department of health sciences at the University of York. We take risk factors like obesity and physical inactivity for granted, whereas we do not yet with social isolation and loneliness, she said. The data from our study support us taking it seriously. But this analysis could not prove that loneliness and social isolation caused heart problems or strokes, only that an association existed, she added. However, if we put the study findings into context, what we found is comparable in size to the effect of other psychosocial risk factors such as anxiety and job strain. Efforts to prevent heart disease and stroke could benefit from taking social isolation and loneliness into account, Valtorta said. The report was published online April 19 in the journal Heart. For the study, Valtorta and her colleagues analyzed data from 23 previously published studies that, in total, included over 180,000 adults, more than 4,600 of whom had heart attacks, angina or died and more than 3,000 who had suffered strokes. The pooled data showed that loneliness and social isolation were associated with a 29 percent increased risk of heart attack or angina attack and a 32 percent increased risk of stroke. Loneliness has been linked in past research to a weakened immune system, high blood pressure and premature death, the researchers explained. These findings suggest that loneliness and social isolation need to be taken seriously across the spectrum of medicine from medical education to guidelines and health care, said Julianne Holt-Lunstad. An associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, she co-authored an accompanying journal editorial. HealthDay