Health disparities and outcomes · Cohort or register study

Is feeling lonely linked to serious infections?

Paper: Association of social isolation and loneliness with risk of incident hospital-treated infections: an analysis of data from the UK Biobank and Finnish Health and Social Support studies
Elovainio et al. · The Lancet Public Health 2023 · doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(22)00253-5

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Is feeling lonely linked to serious infections? Researchers in the UK and Finland followed almost 500 000 adults through hospital records. In both countries, lonely people were more likely to be admitted to hospital with an infection. In the UK, their risk was 12% higher after accounting for habits, background and illness. Having few social contacts, by contrast, was not linked once these factors were considered. This shows a modest link, not proof that loneliness causes infections.

AI-assisted summary with an AI voice, not reviewed by the authors. Made from the paper under its CC BY licence. Read the paper before relying on a finding. Keywords: How dangerous is loneliness?, loneliness, loneliness, social isolation, infectious disease hospitalization, social determinants of health.