Middle-aged and older adults experiencing long-term loneliness are at higher risk of stroke than those who do not report being lonely, according to a new study published Monday in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
Researchers found that single adults’ risk of stroke was higher, regardless of coexisting depressive symptoms or feelings of social isolation.
“Loneliness is increasingly considered a major public health problem. Our findings further highlight why,” said lead author Yenee Soh, a research associate in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard TH Chan School of Medicine. Public Health, in a press release. .
“Especially when experienced chronically, our study suggests that loneliness may play an important role in the incidence of stroke, which is already a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality in the world,” Soh continued.
Those who experienced situational loneliness – temporary loneliness due to a change in circumstances – did not have an increased risk of stroke, suggesting that the impact of loneliness on stroke risk occurs in the long term, according to the study,
The study used data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study (HRS) which followed nearly 9,000 stroke-free 50-year-old adults for 10 to 12 years.
The results showed that those who suffered from chronic loneliness had a 56% higher risk of stroke than those who consistently reported not being lonely, independent of social isolation, depressive symptoms, mass index body, physical activity and other health problems.
Previous research has linked loneliness to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but the new study is one of the first large-scale, long-term studies to examine the association between changes in loneliness and stroke risk. brain over time.
“The results of this study are consistent with other research that has shown that loneliness is linked to (worse) health,” said Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. and a leading researcher on the health effects of loneliness. — who was not involved in the study — told ABC News.
“This is also consistent with other research that shows that harm appears to be more associated when it is persistent or chronic over time,” she continued. “This study because it looked at loneliness multiple times to determine if there were changes and if it was consistent over time (and) found that persistent levels were associated with the worst outcomes.”
Participants who had only baseline measures of loneliness experienced 1,237 strokes during the follow-up period from 2006 to 2018. Participants who completed two loneliness assessments and reported loneliness on each times found 601 strokes during the same follow-up period.
Each group’s stroke risk was analyzed in the context of their loneliness while controlling for other health and behavioral risk factors, including social isolation and depressive symptoms, which are closely linked to solitude, but distinct from it.
“Repeated assessments of loneliness can help identify those who experience chronic loneliness and are therefore at higher risk of stroke,” Soh said in the press release. “If we fail to address their feelings of loneliness, on a micro and macro scale, the health consequences could be profound.”
“It is important that these interventions specifically target loneliness, which is a subjective perception and should not be confused with social isolation,” she added.
Keerthana Kumar, MD, MPH, headache specialist at Nuvance Health/Vassar Brothers Medical Center and member of the ABC News Medical Unit
ABC News
