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Scientists Discover How Loneliness Can Kill

Loneliness can increase the risk of premature death by 14 percent in older adults, according to a study published Monday that posits a physiological basis for the phenomenon. The dangers of social isolation have long been known but its effects on the body have not been well understood, the researchers said in the work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/PNAS. Led by University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo, the research team had previously identified a link between solitude and both a heightened expression of genes involved in inflammation and a diminution in the activity of other genes that play a role in the body’s antiviral responses. The result is a weakened immune systems that makes a person who lives alone more vulnerable to illness. In their latest research, the researchers looked at leukocytes, white blood cells that the immune system uses to protect against bacteria and viruses. They found the same shift in genetic expression in the white blood cells of people who lived alone and in social isolation. They also found that loneliness predicted the gene behavior a year or more in advance and conversely that gene expression predicted loneliness measured a year or more later. (Source)

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