Loneliness is bad for the heart and a strong predictor of premature death, according to a study presented today at EuroHeartCare 2018, the European Society of Cardiology's annual nursing congress. The study found that feeling lonely was a stronger predictor of poor outcomes than living alone, in both men and women.
"Loneliness is more common today than ever before, and more people live alone," said Anne Vinggaard Christensen, study author and Ph.D. student, The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark. "Previous research has shown that loneliness and social isolation are linked with coronary heart disease and stroke, but this has not been investigated in patients with different types of cardiovascular disease."
The study investigated whether poor social network was associated with worse outcomes in 13,463 patients with ischaemic heart disease, arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm), heart failure, or heart valve disease. Data from national registers was linked with the DenHeart survey, which asked all patients discharged from April 2013 to April 2014 from five heart centres in Denmark to answer a questionnaire about their physical and mental health, lifestyle factors such as smoking, and social support.
[For more on this study by European Society of Cardiology, go to https://medicalxpress.com/news...iness-bad-heart.html]
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