Social isolation
Few contacts and little social activity, counted from the outside. Loneliness is the feeling; isolation is the count.
Studies score isolation from facts about a life: living alone, rarely seeing friends or family, no club or congregation, no one to call. A person can be isolated and content, or surrounded and lonely. Loneliness on this atlas is the felt gap. Living alone is one household fact, often one item of an isolation score. Social capital is network density. Social isolation is the count of contact.
Also called objective social isolation, social disconnection, socially isolated.
Connected relationships
Cohort · Moderate
Social isolation→Dementia
Higher social isolation increases dementia.
In a large UK Biobank cohort, social isolation was linked to a 1.26-fold increased risk of dementia.
Meta-analysis · Moderate
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.
Review · Moderate
Hearing loss→Social isolation
Higher hearing loss increases social isolation.
A systematic review of studies in older adults found that hearing loss was associated with a higher risk of social isolation.
Sources
- C Shen et al. (2023). Associations of Social Isolation and Loneliness With Later Dementia.
- S Wang et al. (2023). Association between social integration and risk of dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
- C Lazzari et al. (2022). COVID-19, loneliness, social isolation and risk of dementia in older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relevant literature.
- J Holt-Lunstad et al. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review.
- N Leigh-Hunt et al. (2018). An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness.
- RM Long et al. (2022). Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Living Alone Associations With Mortality Risk in Individuals Living With Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.
- A Shukla et al. (2020). Hearing Loss, Loneliness, and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review.