Loneliness and social isolation and increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: clinical implications

To the Editor The recent meta-analysis published in Heart by Valtorta et al1 showed that loneliness and social isolation are associated with increased incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in 16 large longitudinal studies conducted in high-income countries. This finding is not surprising given the extensive literature documenting such harmful consequences of social isolation, including a study my research group published in 19922 showing in a large sample of CHD patients that those who were not married and did not have a confident—and hence likely to be lonely and socially isolated—had a 5-year mortality (50%) that was nearly three times larger than that observed (18%) in patients with a spouse and/or partner. The most important implication of this finding is that, interventions that reduce loneliness and social isolation have the potential to prevent disease development and improve prognosis once the disease is present....
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research