Long-term loneliness may increase the risk of stroke by 56%, according to a new study. Researchers from Harvard University in the US found that chronic loneliness could have a big impact on people as they age. Those who experienced situational loneliness rather than suffering long term did not have an increased risk of stroke – suggesting that the impact of loneliness on stroke occurs over the longer term.
Lead author Dr Yenee Soh, research associate at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health , 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, 8,936 people who remained in the study responded to the same questions and researchers then grouped the people depending on their answers across the two time points.
The groups were “consistently low” (those who scored low on the loneliness scale at both points); “remitting” (those who scored high at first and low at follow-up); “recent onset” (those who scored lo.