Loneliness can affect your heart. So can unemployment
Researchers at the University College London have found. A UCL study, published in PLOS Medicine, analysed cohort data from three eastern European countries and found that heart disease incidence is more likely among people who rarely see their friends and relatives, are single, unemployed, less wealthy, and have depression-like symptoms. The researchers focused on eastern European countries because heart disease rates are higher there than anywhere else in the world.
Researchers found: “During the follow-up, 556 participants died from CVD. After mutual adjustment, six psychosocial and socioeconomic factors were associated with increased risk of CVD death: unemployment, low material amenities, depression, being single, infrequent contacts with friends or relatives.” The risk factors were independent of one another.
“Previously the impact of these factors have been studied in isolation, so it has been unclear whether one of these factors is the most important root cause. For example, the potential effects of factors such as unemployment and social isolation were thought to be the link between poverty and heart disease,” explained Dr Taavi Tillmann (UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health), the first author of the study.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have now become the leading cause of mortality in India. According to an article published last year in the journal Circulation: “A quarter of all mortality is attributable to CVD. Ischemic heart disease and stroke are the predominant causes and are responsible for >80% of CVD deaths. The Global Burden of Disease study estimate of age-standardized CVD death rate of 272 per 100 000 population in India is higher than the global average of 235 per 100 000 population. Some aspects of the CVD epidemic in India are particular causes of concern, including its accelerated buildup, the early age of disease onset in the population, and the high case fatality rate.” India has been going through rapid social changes with the advent of nuclear families, migration and rising consumerism.
Co-principal investigator in the UCL study, Professor Pajak, Jagiellonian University in Poland, said: “These findings show that in addition to classical risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol, psychological factors related to stress also have an important influence on the risk of heart disease. We should now look to include these factors in our prevention and primary care programmes, especially in the eastern European region where the rates of heart disease are among the highest in the world.”
