Loneliness Increases Risk of Premature Death

Loneliness Increases Risk of Premature Death
Loneliness Increases Risk of Premature Death

United States: A new study in the Journal of Affective Disorders which shows a connection between neuroticism and the risk of dying from different causes. Neuroticism is personality trait that means a person usually feels anxious, fearful, or lonely, and can struggle with emotional stability. This research helps us understand how our feelings and personality traits can impact our overall health.

More than half a million individuals from the UK Biobank were analysed by the study, revealing that people with higher neuroticism scores are in higher risk for dying than those with lower scores from any cause. Of all the facets of neuroticism, loneliness constituted the highest hazard ratio toward early death.

As reported by the PsyPost, past studies have indicated that neuroticism is connected with mental and physical health woes ranging from depression, anxiety to cardiovascular disease, and respiratory ailments. However, studies, regarding a direct relationship between neuroticism and increased rate of mortality have emerged progressively.

An absence of direct association between neuroticism and death rates was reported by some research while the others pointed towards the fact that individuals with higher scores on neuroticism might have shorter life expectancy. However, neuroticism is a general personality dimension, which consists of elements of loneliness, anxiety, and irritability. Several of these components might yield diverse health impacts, yet the literature lacked data comparing these effects.

To get a more accurate picture of how neuroticism increases the risk of death, the new study wanted to look at specific causes of death, including but not limited to cancer, core heart disease, respiratory disease, and other external causes, including accidents and suicide. To minimise this issue, the researchers wanted to examine if some temporal aspects of neuroticism, including loneliness were more associated with premature death than other.

“Our general research area is personality and health; this is the largest study in this area and the only study of sufficient size to find evidence pertaining to cause-specific mortality.

The sample was relatively defend at the beginning of the study so many of these deaths occur at a relatively younger age, younger than the life expectancy in United Kingdom,” said senior author Professor Antonio Terracciano, who is a professor of geriatrics at Florida State University College of Medicine and member of the Laboratory of Personality and Cognition across the Lifespan.

This particular study analyzed data from nearly 500,000 participants in the UK Bioband and a large research initiative that collects or can say gather health and genetic information from individuals across the United Kingdom. The participants were between the ages of 38 and 73 at the start of the study and they were followed for an average of 13.4 years and during this particular period more than 43,000 participants died.

The researchers have already linked the participants data to the national death records to also determine the causes of death which includes cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and the intentional self-harm.

Neuroticism which is measured using a 12-item questionnaire from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, which is a widely used toll in the personality research. Participants who were already asked to respond to the statements like “Are you a worrier? and do you often feel lonely based on how well these items described their typical behavior.