Social isolation 'increases death risk in older people'
BBC
25 March 2013

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Social isolation is associated with a higher risk of death in older people regardless of whether they consider themselves lonely, research suggests.

A study of 6,500 UK men and women aged over 52 found that being isolated from family and friends was linked with a 26% higher death risk over seven years.

Whether or not participants felt lonely did not alter the impact of social isolation on health.

Age UK says cuts to services for older people are compounding the problem.

It is not the first time that loneliness and social isolation has been linked with poor health.

But researchers wanted to find out if it was the emotional aspect of feeling lonely that was having an impact or the reality of having little social contact.

Those who were socially isolated - that is had little or no contact with friends or family - were more likely to be older and unmarried and have long-standing illnesses limiting their mobility, such as lung disease and arthritis.

People who described themselves as feeling lonely were more likely to be female and have a wider range of health conditions, including depression.

Both social isolation and feeling lonely were associated with a higher chance of death.

This study shows more clearly than before that being lonely and isolated is not only miserable, it is a real health risk”

But after adjusting for factors such as underlying health conditions, only social isolation remained important.

That risk did not change when researchers added in whether or not someone felt lonely in their isolation.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said they were surprised by their findings.

Study leader Prof Andrew Steptoe, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at University College London, said: "Social connections can provide emotional support and warmth which is important but they also provide things like advice, making sure people take their medication and provide support in helping them to do things.

"It would suggest that those practical aspects are quite important for older people's survival.

"There's been such an increase in people living alone. In the last 15 years, the number of 55 to 64-year-olds living alone has increased by 50%.

"And it might be that people in those circumstances aren't looking after themselves so well."

Michelle Mitchell, director general at Age UK, said: "This study shows more clearly than before that being lonely and isolated is not only miserable, it is a real health risk, increasing the risk of early death."

She added that cuts to local authority budget cuts may exacerbate the problem of isolation for many older people.

"Across the country day care centres, often the only regular social life that many older people enjoy, are closing, social care support which can enable older people to leave the house is being cut down to the bare minimum, and too many older people are hidden behind closed doors struggling to cope."

Social Networks Prevent Dementia in Women

June 6, 2008
Social Networks Prevent Dementia in Women, Kaiser Permanente Study Finds
Kaiser Permanente press release

A strong social network of family and friends is associated with a lower risk of dementia, says a Kaiser Permanente study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health. This is the latest in a series of studies that Kaiser Permanente is conducting on the causes and prevention of dementia.

The five-year study from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation followed 2,249 women 78 years or older who had not been diagnosed with dementia and found that women with large social networks were about 26 percent less likely to develop dementia when compared to those women with smaller networks.

"There are a variety of ways that a large social network can facilitate cognitive health but the possible influence on the brain is indirect and largely unknown. Future studies will need to examine which specific aspects of social network are associated with dementia risk. We also need to identify and describe what synthetic social networks may be created that serve to augment or substitute social networks for the elderly who are more socially isolated." said Dr. Valerie Crooks, lead author and research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation in Pasadena.

"This well done study significantly adds to the growing body of information that lifestyle, cognitive activity and social connectivity appear to reduce the risk of dementia and help maintain a healthy brain and my advice to older adults is to maintain and even increase their social ties", said Dr. Richard Della Penna, medical director, Kaiser Permanente Aging Network and national Elder Care Clinical Lead for the Care Management Institute.

As many as 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. This study provides longitudinal evidence that having larger social networks does have a protective association on the development of dementia in very elderly women.

"The Alzheimer's Association supports the adoption of a brain-healthy lifestyle and encourages all people to remain mentally, socially and physically engaged," said William Thies, PhD, vice president of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer's Association. "There is a growing body of scientific evidence that suggests staying socially active, in combination with other activities like managing medical risks, exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's or other dementia."

This study was funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Study ties brain structure size to socializing

Study ties brain structure size to socializing
AP
Dec. 26, 2010

NEW YORK (AP) — Do you spend time with a lot of friends? That might mean a particular part of your brain is larger than usual.

It's the amygdala, which lies deep inside. Brain scans of 58 volunteers in a preliminary study indicated that the bigger the amygdala, the more friends and family the volunteers reported seeing regularly.

That makes sense because the amygdala is at the center of a brain network that's important for socializing, says Lisa Feldman Barrett, an author of the work published online Sunday by the journal Nature Neuroscience.

For example, the network helps us recognize whether somebody is a stranger or an acquaintance, and a friend or a foe, said Barrett, of Northeastern University in Boston.

But does having a bigger amygdala lead to more friends, or does socializing with a lot of friends create a bigger amygdala? The study can't sort that out. But Barrett said it might be a bit of both...