Social Isolation may lead to risk of more Heart Attacks: New Study

This is a new unprecedented age, much governed by the invisible enemy in the form of coronavirus pandemic. A lot will change, but fundamentally the outbreak will impact the most basic social interactions. 

We are having a difficult time coping with the changes to our lifestyle brought upon by the health calamity that has thrown everything off the rails. We are locked inside our homes, social distancing from our friends and some even from families. After all, it is the only solution currently to deal with COVID-19.

Yet, remaining secluded could have the effects of its own. According to a new study, researchers have revealed that people who are socially isolated are over 40 per cent more likely to have a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, than those who were socially integrated.

It has been revealed by the study that those who are socially isolated are almost 50 per cent more likely to die from any cause. 

A study researcher, Dr Janine Gronewold from University Hospital in Essen, Germany, as per IANS has said that feeling lonely or lacking contact with close friends and family



can have an impact on your physical health.

She went on to add that what the study tells us is that having strong social relationships is of high importance for your heart health and similar to the role of classical protective factors such as having a healthy blood pressure, acceptable cholesterol levels, and normal weight.

For the findings, the researchers analysed data from 4,316 individuals (average age 59.1 years) who were recruited into the large community-based study between 2000 and 2003.

The participants entered the study with no known cardiovascular disease and they were followed for an average of 13 years.

During the 13.4 years of follow-up, 339 cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or strokes occurred, and there were 530 deaths among the study participants.

After adjusting for other factors that might have contributed to these events and deaths (for example, standard cardiovascular risk factors), a lack of social integration was found to increase the future risk of cardiovascular events by 44 per cent and to increase the risk of death from all causes by 47 per cent.