During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sense of loneliness among the world's population reached a record high level. This was due in part to the social isolation of the population—a measure introduced by the state to prevent the spread of infection.
Studies dedicated to exploring the connection between loneliness and the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases are currently under-researched.
On June 24, 2024, the results of a prospective cohort study aimed at investigating the relationship between loneliness and the risk of stroke were published in the journal eClinicalMedicine (part of The Lancet).
The authors analyzed medical records from the period of 2006 to 2018. The study included patients aged 50 and older who had information in their medical records about experiencing feelings of loneliness and who did not have a history of stroke during the period from 2006 to 2018. Individuals who lacked information about loneliness or those who died in the year 2018 and before the moment of inclusion in the study were not included in the research. The presence of loneliness was measured using the revised University of California, Los Angeles loneliness scale (R-UCLA). The authors assessed the presence of loneliness (3-9 points), divided loneliness into subgroups (high (>6 points) or low (≤6 points)), and additionally conducted an assessment of the duration of loneliness (consistently low, remitting, recent onset, consistently high).
Higher loneliness scores at baseline were associated with incident stroke for continuous (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.08) loneliness measures, and persisted after adjustment for social isolation but not depressive symptoms. Only individuals with a consistently high loneliness pattern over time (vs consistently low) had significantly higher incident stroke risk (HR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.11–2.18) after adjusting for depressive symptoms and social isolation.
Thus, according to the data of the conducted study, chronic loneliness is associated with the risk of stroke development.
