Cardiologists at Sapporo University in Japan found that elderly heart failure patients who feel lonely are more likely to experience adverse heart health outcomes. Study published Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.
300 hospitalized patients over 65 years of age were included in the study. They all filled out a questionnaire to measure their loneliness level. The scientists then followed the patients’ health for three years.
“We found that patient loneliness is associated with adverse long-term clinical outcomes in elderly patients with heart failure. Additionally, this factor increased the likelihood of an unfavorable prognosis,” he said.
However, scientists emphasized that people in different cultures may evaluate their loneliness differently. Also, the effects of living alone can differ between cultures.
In the future, the researchers hope to repeat the study on a wider variety of human samples.