Loneliness linked to higher risk of degenerative heart valve disease – new large-scale study
Adults who feel lonely have a significantly higher risk of developing degenerative heart valve disease, even after accounting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and genetic predisposition. This is the central finding of a new population-based study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The analysis, based on data from nearly 463,000 participants in the UK Biobank, shows that people reporting high levels of loneliness had a 19 percent increased overall risk of degenerative valvular heart disease. The risk was 21 percent higher for aortic valve stenosis and 23 percent higher for mitral valve regurgitation. In contrast, objective social isolation – defined as living alone, infrequent contact with friends or family, and lack of social or leisure activities – showed no significant association with increased disease risk. Unhealthy lifestyle factors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and…
