STUDY LINKS LONELINESS TO FEWER DISEASE-FREE YEARS

Researchers at Tulane University's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public and Tropical Medicine have found that loneliness and social isolation can be linked to a reduced number of years lived free from major illness, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications. Lu Qi, the study's lead author and a professor at the school, said the research found that social isolation and loneliness can have a significant impact on disease-free life expectancy, affecting both physical and mental health. The observational study found the largest gap emerged in mental health outcomes, with some participants losing nearly six years of life free from mental illness. The researchers said the findings offer one of the clearest estimates yet of how social connection affects the number of healthy years a person might expect to live, rather than simply how long they live overall.

The research distinguishes between social isolation, measured through the frequency and extent of a person's social contacts, and loneliness, which reflects how satisfied someone feels with the quality of those relationships. According to the researchers, a person can have frequent social contact and still experience loneliness, meaning the two conditions may affect health through different routes. A 2023 report estimated that roughly half of adults in the United States experience loneliness, while a similar proportion are socially isolated. Researchers have previously linked both conditions to poorer health and earlier death, but said their effect on disease-free life expectancy had been less clear until now. The Tulane team said possible pathways connecting weak social connection to poorer health include changes to stress, sleep and health behaviours.

The researchers said healthy habits may reduce some of the health burden associated with social isolation, but suggested loneliness appears more resistant to change through lifestyle adjustments alone. Lu Qi said the findings point to the importance of addressing both the physical and mental disease linked to weak social connection. The study is observational, meaning it identifies associations between social connection and health outcomes rather than establishing direct cause and effect. The work was carried out at Tulane's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public and Tropical Medicine and published in Nature Communications.