A recent study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health indicates that persistent loneliness may significantly increase the risk of stroke among older adults. Yenee Soh, the lead author and a research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, emphasised the importance of loneliness as a public health issue, noting its potential role in contributing to stroke incidence—a leading cause of severe long-term disability and death globally. The research, slated for publication in eClinicalMedicine on June 24, delves into the correlation between loneliness and stroke risk, expanding on previous studies that linked loneliness with cardiovascular diseases but seldom addressed stroke specifically.
Utilising data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) spanning from 2006 to 2018, the research team assessed how changes in loneliness affected stroke incidence over time. Initially, 12,161 participants aged 50 and above who had never had a stroke responded to the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale in 2006-2008. A follow-up survey in 2010-2012 saw responses from 8,936 of those participants, allowing researchers to categorise them based on their loneliness scores at the two-time points into four groups: “consistently low,” “remitting,” “recent onset,” and “consistently high.” Analysis of stroke occurrence during the follow-up periods showed that 1,237 strokes happened among those assessed only at baseline and 601 strokes among those assessed twice.
The findings revealed a significant link between loneliness and an elevated risk of stroke, with the most substantial risk increase found in those chronically lonely. Participants considered lonely at the initial assessment had a 25% higher stroke risk compared to those not regarded as lonely. Moreover, those who reported persistent high levels of loneliness across both assessments faced a 56% higher risk of stroke than those with consistently low loneliness scores, even after adjusting for other risk factors such as social isolation and depressive symptoms. Interestingly, the data suggested that loneliness impacts stroke risk over a longer term, as those with remitting or newly onset loneliness did not show a consistent pattern of increased risk.
Yenee Soh highlighted the importance of repeated assessments of loneliness to identify individuals at higher risk of stroke and stressed the need for targeted interventions specifically addressing loneliness, distinguishing it from social isolation. The study underscores the necessity for further research into the nuanced changes in loneliness and its long-term patterns to understand its impact on stroke risk better. The findings, while significant, pertain primarily to middle-aged and older adults and may need to be more generalisable to younger populations, signalling a gap that future studies could address.
More information: Yenee Soh et al, Chronic loneliness and the risk of incident stroke in middle and late adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study of U.S. older adults, EClinicalMedicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102639
Journal information: EClinicalMedicine Provided by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
