This large study by the American Cancer Society confirms the link between social isolation and the risk of heart, cancer and all-cause death. Conclusions presented in the American Journal of Epidemiology which suggest as a priority, with the aging of populations, the fight against social isolation. Interventions against social isolation are indeed relatively simple and influence other risk factors, such as hypertension, inflammation and physical inactivity, smoking, etc.
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Social isolation has already been associated with higher mortality, this new American prospective study also looked at its effects according to ethnicity and gender using data from 580,182 adults participating in the Cancer Prevention Study-II cohort started in 1982 with a follow-up duration of almost 30 years (2012).
The researchers took into account several criteria to assess the degree of social isolation including marital status, frequency of participation in community, religious or family activities, the evaluation score ranging from 0 (least isolated) to 5 (most isolated) points. The analysis shows that:
- ethnicity is a stronger predictor of social isolation than gender;
- belonging to an ethnic minority increases the risk and degree of social isolation;
- the relationship between social isolation and the risk of all-cause mortality is positive, dose-dependent and statistically, and in this study over the 30-year follow-up period; with nevertheless stronger associations during the first 15 years of follow-up;
- the social isolation score is positively associated with heart disease mortality;
- the social isolation score is positively associated with cancer mortality, except in black men or black women.
Take social factors into account in the clinical approach: overall these results from a very large sample followed over a long period of time confirm that this composite measure of social isolation can be a robust predictor and a marker of mortality risk . The authors cite a recent meta-analysis that identified social isolation as an independent risk factor for death, and alongside other well-established mortality risk factors, such as physical inactivity, obesity and lack of access to health care.
They suggest that in the era of precision medicine, social factors and in particular this notion of social isolation should also be taken into account in the clinical approach.
