Living alone raises the risk of heart disease and premature death, according to a new study.
The research, led by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, found social isolation may cause emotional stress, influence health behaviors and effect access to health care – all of which raise cardiovascular risks.
Investigators, writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, noted about 1 in 7 Americans lives alone.
For the study, the team of scientists tracked the health records of 44,573 people. They found people living on their own had higher mortality rates (14.1 percent vs. 11.1 percent) and cardiovascular death (8.6 percent vs. 6.8 percent) than people with shared living arrangements.
"Younger individuals who live alone may have a less favorable course than all but the most elderly individuals following development of [cardiovascular] disease,” the researchers concluded, “and this observation warrants confirmation in further studies."