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Evidence Mounts of Dire Consequence of Loneliness
for Older Americans
Latest study says
it leads to high blood pressure, heart risk for those over 50
March 28, 2006 A growing list of studies are
pointing to the deadly impact of loneliness, particularly on senior
citizens. The latest says loneliness is a major risk factor in
increasing blood pressure in older Americans and could increase the risk
of death and stroke or heart disease. Although this study was of people
between the ages of 50 and 68, the problem increases with added years,
which indicates it is more severe for senior citizens age 70 and older. A
study last year found nearly 60 percent of the elderly in this group are
experiencing some form of loneliness.
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on Aging |
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(See sidebar for links to other reports on the
consequences of loneliness for senior citizens.)
In the new study, scholars found that lonely people
have blood pressure readings that are as much as 30 points higher than
in non-lonely people, even when other factors such as depressive
symptoms or perceived stress are taken into account, according to Louise
Hawkley, Senior Research Scientist with the Center for Cognitive and
Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, and John Cacioppo, the
Tiffany & Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology.
This is equivalent to the difference between a
normal blood pressure of 120 and a level of 150 which signifies Stage 1
hypertension, she said. Blood pressure differences between lonely and
non-lonely people were smallest at age 50 and greatest among the oldest
adults tested, those at retirement age.
The escalation of the problem with age, gives
further reason to consider those age 70 and over at the very highest
risk.
Hawkley and Cacioppo are authors of the paper,
Loneliness is a Unique Predictor of Age-Related Differences in Systolic
Blood Pressure, published in the journal Psychology and Aging. Other
co-authors were Christopher Masi, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the
University of Chicago, and Jarett Berry of the Department of Preventive
Medicine, Northwestern.
The increase in blood pressure associated with
loneliness is about the same magnitude as reductions attained through
weight loss and regular physical activity in people suffering from
hypertension.
By these standards, improvements in a sense of
social connectedness may have clinical benefits comparable to lifestyle
modifications, the authors wrote.
The team based their research on a study of 229
people aged 50 to 68. The randomly chosen group includes whites, African
Americans and Latinos who are part of a long-term study on aging.
Members of the group were asked a series of questions to determine if
they perceived themselves as lonely. They were asked to rate their
connections with others through a series of topics, such as I have a
lot in common with the people around me, My social relationships are
supeficial, and I can find companionship when I want it.
The research team also examined data on weight,
alcohol consumption, smoking, blood pressure medications, and
demographic characteristics and found that people who rated high on
being lonely had a significantly higher blood pressure than non-lonely
people with similar profiles on the other measures.
The research also showed that the normal increases
in blood pressure associated with aging are augmented by loneliness.
The paper builds on Cacioppos earlier research
that demonstrated that the loneliness is related to increased peripheral
vascular resistance among young people. Although both lonely and
non-lonely people in that study experienced stress, subjects in both
studies reacted to stress differently.
Lonely people differ from non-lonely individuals
in their tendency to perceive stressful circumstances as threatening
rather than challenging, and to passively cope with stress by failing to
solicit instrumental and emotional support and by withdrawing from
stress rather than by actively coping and attempting to problem solve,
Cacioppo said.
The study on young people showed that stress caused
an increase in resistance to blood flow brought on by their response to
stress. Greater resistance to blood flow in lonley people compared to
non-lonely idnvidiauls could increase blood pressure over the lifetime
of lonely people, Cacioppo said. Longitudinal studies are underway to
look at how loneliness, now associated with an increase in blood
pressure, may play a causal role in the increase, he said.
Im surprised by the magnitude of the relationship
between loneliness and hypertension in this well-controlled
cross-sectional study, said Richard Suzman, Ph.D., director of the
Behavioral and Social Research Program at the National Institute on
Aging (NIA), a funder of the research Older peoples relationships are
often disrupted by death, illness and geographic mobility. One of NIAs
goals is to help determine what can be done to improve the quality of
relationships and social connectedness as a way to ease loneliness and
reduce blood pressure.
The Templeton Foundation also funded the research.
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