Loneliness and Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: Mechanisms and Future Directions

In this review, we synthesise recent research on the association between loneliness and cardiovascular disease (CVD). We present evidence for mechanisms underlying this association and propose directions for future research.

Loneliness is related to increased risk of early mortality and CVD comparable to other well-established risk factors such as obesity or smoking. Loneliness has been linked to higher rates of incident CVD, poorer CVD patient outcomes, and early mortality from CVD. Loneliness likely affects risk for these outcomes via health-related behaviours (e.g. physical inactivity and smoking), biological mechanisms (e.g. inflammation, stress reactivity), and psychological factors (e.g. depression) to indirectly damage health.