LONG-term loneliness may increase a person’s risk of stroke by 56 per cent, a new study shows. Loneliness has already been linked with heart disease, depression, dementia and diabetes . Researchers from Harvard University in the US suggest the health dangers of feeling lonely occur over time.
Those with situational or new loneliness did not have the same increased risk of stroke . But it comes after another recent study found that even short-term loneliness can have health risks. Loneliness is considered a state of mind that causes a person to feel empty, alone and unwanted.
It is not the same as social isolation, but can be exacerbated by it. The latest study was led by Dr Yenee Soh, research associate at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, who said: “Loneliness is increasingly considered a major public health issue. “Our findings further highlight why that is.
“Especially when experienced chronically, our study suggests loneliness may play an important role in stroke incidence, which is already one of the leading causes of long-term disability and mortality worldwide.” The study, published in eClinicalMedicine, used data from 2006 to 2018 from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study. Some 12,161 people aged 50 and over who had never had a stroke were asked questions about loneliness between 2006 and 2008.
Four years later, almost 9,000 people who remained in the study responded to the same questions on loneliness. Among those people, 60.