孤獨不是病，但可能會讓你患病

紐約時報

NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Keith Negley


摘要：一項針對18萬多成年人進行的科學研究發現，社會隔離和孤獨感會讓人們罹患心臟病、心絞痛和猝死的幾率增加29%，使中風風險增加32%。

Loneliness may make you sick.

Researchers, writing in the journal Heart, pooled data from 23 studies and found that social isolation or feelings of loneliness were tied to an increased risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.

The studies included data from 181,006 men and women 18 and older. There were 4,628 coronary events and 3,002 strokes in follow-up periods ranging from three to 21 years. Three of the papers measured loneliness, 18 looked at social isolation and two included both. Social isolation and loneliness were determined with questionnaires; the researchers depended on medical records and death certificates for determining coronary events and stroke.

The scientists found that loneliness and social isolation increased the relative risk of having a heart attack, angina or a death from heart disease by 29 percent, and the risk of stroke by 32 percent. There were no differences between men and women.

「People have tended to focus from a policy point of view at targeting lonely people to make them more connected,」 said the lead author, Nicole K. Valtorta, a research fellow at the University of York in England. 「Our study shows that if this is a risk factor, then we should be trying to prevent the risk factor in the first place.」

The authors acknowledge that this was a review of observational studies and did not establish cause and effect.