Social isolation at home linked with higher risk of early death, UK study shows

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International researchers have found a link between loneliness and the risk of premature death — even among those who seek extracurricular activities outside of the home — after analysing the data of 450,000 UK adults and asking them questions about their level of social interaction.

A decade-long observational study drawing on UK Biobank data began by asking people with a mean age of 56.5 years questions about their socialisation.

Researchers first asked subjective questions like how frequently study participants were able to confide in another person, how often they felt lonely; and objective questions such as how regularly friends and family visited, whether they did weekly social activities, and if they lived alone.

After checking in with participants 10 years later (a median 12.6 years follow-up), the study determined all factors influenced the risk of early death.

A total of 33,135 (7.2%) participants were recorded as having died based on linked death certificates.

Overall, researchers identified that people faced a higher risk of early death linked to whether any visitors came to see them at home. This was equivalent to 39% associated increased risk of early death.

“The benefit of participating in weekly group activities was not observed in participants who never had friends or family visit — participants who never received visits but did join group activities had a comparable associated increased risk of death to those who had no visits and joined no activities (50% and 49% respectively),” the paper found.

The researchers set out to examine the independent and combined associations between functional and structural components of social connection and mortality.

The associations with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality were then considered by the academics using Cox proportional hazard models.

“Over a median of 12.6 years (IQR 11.9–13.3) follow-up, 33,135 (7.2%) participants died, including 5112 (1.1%) CVD deaths.

“All social connection measures were independently associated with both outcomes,” the paper read.

The study, co-authored by Hamish Foster, Jason Gill, Frances Mair, Carlos Celis-Morales, Bhautesh Jani, Barbara Nicholl, Duncan Lee and Catherine O’Donnell, was published in Springer Nature’s BMC Medicine on Friday.

“Never having friends/family visits whilst living alone potentially counteracted benefits from other components as early mortality risks were highest for those reporting both never having visits and living alone regardless of weekly group activity or functional components,” the paper read.

“When all measures were combined into overall functional and structural components, there was an interaction between components: compared with participants defined as not isolated by both components, those considered isolated by both components had higher CVD mortality than each component alone.”

Data for the UK Biobank was collected by the NHS as part of patient care and support.

The Health Data Research UK in partnership with the Office for National Statistics produces Biobank data assets as part of the data and connectivity national core study.

Study authors noted that while the UK Biobank sample data was not fully representative of the general population, the social interaction measures that were assessed were relatively simple.

They added that further research was needed to understand the effects of other types of social interaction on a person’s mortality risk, and to show how altering or changing a particular interaction could socially benefit those experiencing isolation.

“The prevalence of a lack of social connection (9.2–14.4% of the global population are estimated to feel lonely and 25% of adults worldwide may be socially isolated) and the associated mortality justify attempts to understand how each component impacts on mortality in order to develop targeted interventions.”