Loneliness has an adverse impact on the physiological, behavioural and psychosocial mechanisms of individuals, leading to heightened stroke risk
People who showed consistently high scores on loneliness tests conducted over time appear to have a 56 per cent significantly higher risk of developing stroke than those who scored low, according to a new study published in eClinicalMedicine journal.
“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,” lead author Yenee Soh, research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, said in a statement.
Loneliness is defined as a subjective personal experience. It is, however, not the same as being alone. “Loneliness is subjective because the experience can vary from one person to another,” Aparna Shankar, professor of psychology at FLAME University, Pune, previously told Down To Earth. This feeling can be triggered by social isolation, which is defined as a lack of social contact. But it can also occur when people are surrounded by friends.
Loneliness has been linked with both mental and physical health conditions such as impaired cognitive function, depression, anxiety and increased risk of suicide, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and infectious diseases.
Read more: Lonely brains reach for comfort food: Study links loneliness and cravings in women
Recent studies have identified loneliness as a potential risk factor for stroke. But only a few have looked at the impact on stroke risk specifically, the paper read.
The new study investigated the association between progression of loneliness and stroke risk over two different time points. It looked at the 2006-2018 data from the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of around 20,000 people in the United States.
They first measured baseline loneliness from 2006-08, involving 12,161 participants, who were aged 50 and above and never had a stroke.
They assessed loneliness using a popular tool — the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale — that which assigns scores based on responses to 20 questions.
Four years later, during 2010-2012, 8,936 participants remained in the study. They were asked to take the test again to see how loneliness has changed over time.
Based on the scores from the two time points (baseline and follow-up), the team placed the participants into one of the four groups: People who scored low on the loneliness scale at both baseline and follow-up were placed in the ‘consistently low’ group. Those who scored high at baseline and low at follow-up were placed in the ‘remitting’ group. The ‘recent onset’ category included people who scored low at baseline and high at follow-up and the ‘consistently high’ group included those who scored high at both baseline and follow-up.
When loneliness was assessed at baseline only, the researchers found that lonely participants had a 25 per cent higher risk of stroke than their non-lonely counterparts.
People who were placed in the ‘consistently high’ group after loneliness was measured at the two-time points had a 56 per cent higher risk of stroke than those in the ‘consistently low’ group.
“Repeat assessments of loneliness may help identify those who are chronically lonely and are therefore at a higher risk for stroke,” Soh explained.
Read more: We know loneliness is a big problem. What we do not know is just how big: Christopher Mikton
The researchers explained that three mechanisms could probably explain how loneliness can impact stroke risk. These include physiological (elevated blood pressure and declining immunity), behavioural (poor medication adherence, smoking, alcohol use and lower quality of sleep) and psychosocial (inadequate social support) mechanisms.
The team called for more work to establish stronger evidence on how potential physiological mechanisms can explain the link between loneliness and stroke.
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