Social isolation → All-cause mortality
Higher social isolation increases all-cause mortality.
A meta-analytic review links social isolation to an average 29% increased likelihood of mortality, and a later meta-analysis found the same direction in people with cardiovascular disease.
Meta-analysis · Moderate
The two move together in observational data. Nobody has yet tested whether one causes the other.
Mechanism
The papers do not name a single pathway. They report that isolation tracks with earlier death across many observational studies.
Caveats
The evidence is mainly observational studies in the developed world. Among people with established cardiovascular disease, social isolation went with a hazard ratio of 1.46 (95% CI = 1.08-2.04). Illness can itself cause isolation, so the stamp does not claim that isolation causes earlier death.
Effect
Odds ratio 1.29. Social isolation went with an odds ratio of 1.29 for mortality; no interval is given in the quoted text.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Social isolation → All-cause mortality.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-social-isolation-mortality (atlas updated 2026-10-17).
https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-social-isolation-mortality
Papers
- Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review.
J Holt-Lunstad, TB Smith, M Baker, T Harris, D Stephenson · 2015 · Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
studies providing quantitative data on mortality · Odds ratio 1.29
- An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness.
N Leigh-Hunt, D Bagguley, K Bash, V Turner, S Turnbull, N Valtorta, W Caan · 2018 · Public health
populations of mainly observational studies in the developed world
- Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Living Alone Associations With Mortality Risk in Individuals Living With Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.
RM Long, A Terracciano, AR Sutin, AM Creaven, D Gerstorf, S D'Arcy-Bewick, PS O'Súilleabháin · 2022 · Psychosomatic medicine
individuals with established cardiovascular disease · Hazard ratio 1.46 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.04)