STUDY FINDS
Social isolation is a word on the tip of everyone’s tongues these days. Staying away from others during this pandemic is keeping us safe, but a new study finds that prolonged social isolation is also quite dangerous.
Researchers warn that socially isolated people are over 40% more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or other major cardiovascular event. Moreover, the socially isolated are nearly 50% more likely to die from any cause.
There was also an observed relationship between lack of financial support and increased cardiovascular risk.
The study was conducted by Dr. Janine Gronewold and Professor Dirk M. Hermann from the University Hospital in Essen, Germany. They analyzed data on 4,316 people (average age: 59 years old) who had been recruited for research between 2000 and 2003.
All of those participants initially had no known cardiovascular problems, and were tracked for an average of 13 years. Initially, each adult answered questions on their social support systems (marital status, number of close friends, memberships in various groups, clubs, organizations, etc).
