Loneliness makes people look biologically older, study shows

A loneliness , increasingly, has been shown to be a public health issue. Several studies have already shown that the Social isolation can harm physical and mental health and increase the risk of death. A new study, developed by the Mayo Clinic, reinforces these findings and also found that socially isolated people appear to be biologically older than their true age .

A search was published in March in Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances and suggests that social bonds play an important role in physical health and longevity. According to the study, in addition to increasing people's biological age, loneliness can also increase the risk of death from various causes.

To reach these conclusions, the researchers compared the Social Network Index with the AI ​​electrocardiogram (IA-ECG) of more than 280,000 adults who received outpatient care between June 2019 and March 2022. The selected participants completed a questionnaire about social determinants of health and had IA-ECG records archived within one year.

The Mayo Clinic developed an AI-ECG model that was used to determine participants' biological age, which was then compared to their chronological age (i.e., how old they actually were).

One previous search showed that the age determination made by IA-ECG represents the biological age of the heart. A positive age difference indicates accelerated biological aging, while a negative value suggests slower biological aging.

The questionnaire completed by participants consisted of questions present in the Social Network Index associated with the following areas of social interaction:

• Belonging to any club or social organization;
• Frequency of participation in social activities per year;
• Frequency of telephone conversations with family and friends per week;
• Frequency of participation in church or religious services per year;
• Frequency of meetings with friends or family in person per week.
• Marital status or living with a partner.

Each response received a score of 0 or 1, and the total score ranged from 0 to 4, representing different degrees of social isolation.

Greater biological aging due to loneliness was found in non-white participants

According to the study, participants with a higher score on the Social Network Index — indicating a better social life — had a smaller age difference on the AI-ECG. However, those who had lower scores, less than or equal to 1, on the Index had a higher risk of death compared to the other groups.

The study also showed a health disparity between races . Non-white participants had higher average age differences than white participants, especially those with lower Social Network Index scores. About 86.3% of participants were non-Hispanic white.

“This study highlights the critical interplay between social isolation, health and aging,” says Amir Lerman, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic and senior author of the paper, in a press release. “Social isolation combined with demographic and medical conditions appears to be a significant risk factor for accelerated aging. However, we know that people can change their behavior — have more social interaction, exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking, get adequate sleep, etc. Making and sustaining these changes can go a long way toward improving overall health.”

Loneliness and physical and mental health

This is not the first study to show the relationship between loneliness and risks to physical and mental health . According to the WHO (World Health Organization), loneliness can increase in 25% risk of death in 50% of dementia is at 30% of cardiovascular disease . Therefore, the entity created the Social Connections Commission with the aim of recognizing the issue as a global priority and proposing solutions.

In 2021, another article showed, for the first time, that loneliness affects young and old people all over the world, from the richest to the poorest countries. The lack of social connection was associated, among other factors, with increased mortality, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and pneumonia.

Last year, another study, published in PLOS One, showed a 33% increase in all-cause mortality in lonely people. Another article, published this year in JAMA Network Open, showed that loneliness increases the risk of death in people with obesity.