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Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

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Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#31

Post by stared »

softwaredoug wrote: post #3

How much is related to people suffering a medical emergency and nobody being around to help? vs. How much is the actual emotional impact of loneliness?

Its anecdotical (though, I guess, there is plenty of data for that), but often people (especially men) don't visit a doctor early enough. It takes their partner (of friends, kids) to prompt them to get checked.

Medical emergencies might be a cherry on the cake - but let's not forget that most diseases are not instantaneous - and sooner these are cached, less harm.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#32

Post by bell-cot »

fullstop wrote: post #18

Before getting tied up with bureaucratic nonsense my daughter was looking at starting a "borrow a grandma / grandpa" club at her university. The idea was to connect students with elderly people who are lonely, and they could have tea / coffee together. The elderly get to be social with a younger generation, and the younger generation gets to understand the struggles that a lot of elderly people face. I think that the…

Did your daughter talk to a few local senior citizen agencies or nursing homes? Last I knew, quite a few of those are interested in "just visit occasionally" volunteers. And if another org (which specialized in seniors) was handling that end of things, the U might not be so hung up on allowing the club.

Or, "we're adults, just do it". The U can't actually stop of-age students from volunteering for local organizations, or joining churches, or playing soccer in a city park.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#34

Post by balamatom »

joules77 wrote: post #11
ipnon wrote: post #5

This is why doctors should recommend drinking and smoking. At a certain point the risk of premature death is greater from being a shut-in than it is from indulging in a pint and a ciggie with some buddies every once in a while.

But I don't think it makes a diff. My friend circle has had a few guys drop into hermit mode. We have tried all kinds of things to pull them out, but it's like they have decided monastic life or whatever is their thing.

Do tell more.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#35

Post by trentnix »

softwaredoug wrote: post #3

How much is related to people suffering a medical emergency and nobody being around to help? vs. How much is the actual emotional impact of loneliness?

It doesn't even have to be medical emergencies that go unnoticed. There are other declining health metrics that an independent observer might notice that a person is not aware of or is unwilling to confront. If there's no one to say "you might want to get that checked out", you probably won't get that checked out!

No mistake, almost all of us can refer to an anecdote of an elderly relative dying soon after their spouse. It can be both tragic and, in hindsight, romantic. But really, the consequences of loneliness are often and unfortunately quite practical.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#36

Post by AndrewKemendo »

vasco wrote: post #21
paraknight wrote: post #16

I haven't dug into all the sources, but I think there's a potential confounder here, or maybe even reverse causality. The author seems to assume causation when the studies only indicate correlation. E.g. the first link says "chronic loneliness increases mortality risk" but the actual source says "actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality". So for example, it's p…

My dismissive but practical take is "well yeah there's nobody in the room to call an ambulance when you have the heart attack you'll most likely have", which mindfulness classes and support groups don't help with. There's practical benefits to having people around.

By these statistics there aren’t enough healthy people to provide care for those that are less healthy

The challenge here is that healthy people don’t desire to be around unhealthy people.

Society provides no incentive or social benefit for otherwise healthy people to be around the unwell to call the ambulances. Even as a nurse, hospice worker or caregiver, the pay/benefits are non existent for the amount of emotional and physical labor needed for care.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#37

Post by fullstop »

raffael_de wrote: post #30
fullstop wrote: post #18

Before getting tied up with bureaucratic nonsense my daughter was looking at starting a "borrow a grandma / grandpa" club at her university. The idea was to connect students with elderly people who are lonely, and they could have tea / coffee together. The elderly get to be social with a younger generation, and the younger generation gets to understand the struggles that a lot of elderly people face. I think that the…

A liability for having tea with elderly citizens?

There's a lot of aspects here, such as where they would meet up, etc. If it's on school property and something happens, for example. Additionally there are restrictions for clubs operating off-campus. I don't know, it was seemingly more complicated than any of us had anticipated.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#38

Post by Taek »

bjourne wrote: post #27
paraknight wrote: post #16

I haven't dug into all the sources, but I think there's a potential confounder here, or maybe even reverse causality. The author seems to assume causation when the studies only indicate correlation. E.g. the first link says "chronic loneliness increases mortality risk" but the actual source says "actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality". So for example, it's p…

Of course there is no direct causation between loneliness and death. You don't directly die from lack of social interaction, but you do directly die from lack of food. However, there is a clear causal link between loneliness and habits that increase mortality.

No I believe its reasonably well established that being lonely itself takes a toll on your health. Stress goes up etc.

The problem is that this article is overstating the effect on mortality because its not controlling for confounding factors very well.

Re: Meta-analysis of 2.2M people: Loneliness increases mortality risk by 32%

#40

Post by russfink »

raffael_de wrote: post #30
fullstop wrote: post #18

Before getting tied up with bureaucratic nonsense my daughter was looking at starting a "borrow a grandma / grandpa" club at her university. The idea was to connect students with elderly people who are lonely, and they could have tea / coffee together. The elderly get to be social with a younger generation, and the younger generation gets to understand the struggles that a lot of elderly people face. I think that the…

A liability for having tea with elderly citizens?

Liability that one of them will don a Robert De Niro grin and say, “hey kid, wanna get out of here?” and the youth will oblige by lowering the roof on the GT and cranking up Deep Purple’s Highway Star as they peel rubber from beneath the pastel peach awning, thousands of foot pounds of torque expressing a shared joy in a cloud of smoke and a squeal of delight.
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