Study suggests certain proteins may link loneliness to ill health

Loneliness has long been associated with ill health, but researchers say they have fresh insights into the link between the two.

- Nicola Davis

While poor health can result in people becoming isolated and lonely, studies also suggest loneliness can itself lead to poorer health. Now researchers say they have unpicked a mechanism for the latter relationship, finding loneliness can affect the levels of some proteins associated with various diseases and even death.

Prof Barbara Sahakian, a co-author of the study at the University of Cambridge, said the World Health Organization had declared social isolation and loneliness a major problem in the world.

"I think the message is that we've got to start to get people to realise that it's part of a health thing, both for their mental health and their wellbeing but also for their physical health, that they have to remain connected with other people," she said.