Feeling lonely increases the risk of illness... due to an increase in 'disease-causing' proteins

Elevated levels of certain proteins were measured in people complaining of social isolation or loneliness. An increase in the levels of these proteins was found to potentially lead to health deterioration.

On the 3rd (local time), Professor Barbara Sahakian's research team at the University of Cambridge in the UK published in the international journal 'Nature' their findings that the correlation between loneliness and health deterioration can be explained by an increase in the levels of a specific protein.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), loneliness has serious negative effects on physical and mental health. It is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The research team confirmed that the reason loneliness causes health problems is related to certain proteins.

The research team used data from 42,000 UK Biobank participants to investigate whether there are proteins that distinguish the 9.3% who reported social isolation and the 6.4% who reported loneliness from those who did not.

As a result of adjusting for factors such as age, gender, education level, smoking, and alcohol consumption, 175 proteins related to social isolation and 26 proteins related to loneliness were identified. These proteins were found to overlap in individuals reporting social isolation or loneliness and were confirmed to be involved in inflammation and the immune system.

The research team also analyzed data tracking the health of study participants over 14 years. As a result, it was confirmed that 90% of these proteins are associated with mortality risk. Half of the proteins showed a correlation with the development of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.

The research team also conducted Mendelian randomization analysis to infer causality by analyzing the correlation between specific risk factors and gene mutations associated with those factors.

As a result, it was confirmed that when there are genetic variations related to loneliness, the levels of five proteins are affected. All five proteins were associated with various inflammation and metabolic markers.

The research team explained, "According to previous studies, five proteins partially explain the association between loneliness and cardiovascular disease, stroke, and mortality," and added, "Four of these five are related to the volume of brain regions involved in emotional and social processes, as well as brain cognitive abilities related to health status."

For example, a protein called ADM is a protein that can explain about 7.5% of the correlation between loneliness, disease, and risk of death, and it suggests that proteins triggered by loneliness could be an important factor in explaining health status.

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Isolation and loneliness...

Illnesses also tend to occur easily...

Lonely death...ㅠ.ㅠ

Everyone~ Let's live by communicating~