Maybe misery should love company.
New research from Brigham Young University suggests loneliness and social isolation, even for people who prefer their own company, can be very bad for health.
The researchers analyzed data from 70 studies and more than 3.4 million people from 1980 to 2014. The studies, which followed people for an average of seven years, found that people who were socially isolated, lonely or living alone had about a 30 percent higher chance of dying during a given study period than those who had regular social contact.
"Actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality," the researchers write.
Notably, the effect was greater for younger people than for those older than 65, according to the report in Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the lead author, said the effect of loneliness and social isolation was as great a risk factor as others identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (such as physical inactivity, obesity, substance abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior, injury and violence, environmental toxins, lack of immunization and poor access to health care) and should be taken seriously as a threat to public health.
The researchers noted that loneliness could take various forms. Some people with strong social networks may still feel lonely, even when surrounded by loved ones. Others choose social isolation and even prefer it.
Loneliness or living alone seemed to be particularly bad for middle-aged adults, compared with older people in the same situation. The researchers noted that their analysis could not be used to explain that counterintuitive finding. Also, they saw a need for more research to confirm their findings:
"To better evaluate differences across age, future researchers should involve participants from a broad range of age groups," they wrote. "Most of the data in this meta-analysis came from older adults. Only 24 percent of studies involved people with an average age of 59 years or younger, and only 9 percent of studies involved people younger than 50 years of age at intake.
"If future data collection with younger adult samples confirms the age differences we observed in this meta-analysis, then widespread beliefs about the health risks of social isolation being greatest among older adults are inaccurate."
Celia Storey added information to this report.
ActiveStyle on 03/23/2015