Loneliness increases the chances of developing Parkinson disease

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Loneliness has many consequences in people’s lives. Numerous studies have shown that lack of companionship is detrimental to health, so much so that in some cases it increases the risk of developing diseases that increase one’s mortality risk by about 30%. Recent research published in the journal Jama Neurology reveals a correlation with Parkinson disease, a degenerative condition that still has no cure.

“Loneliness is a distressing feeling. We believe that over time it can generate physiological stress in the brain, especially in people who have other vulnerabilities,” explains Antonio Terracciano, the Florida State University geriatrician who coordinated the study.

“The effects of loneliness on other aspects of life, such as obesity and cardiovascular disease, had been analyzed before. But until now, its link with Parkinson disease had not been investigated.” For 15 years, Terracciano and his team monitored a total of 491,603 participants from a biobank in the United Kingdom; at the beginning of the study, they all had to answer the same question: “Do you often feel lonely

All participants were over the age of 50 years old when the research began, because Parkinson disease is more prevalent among older adults. To better identify the temporal relationship between loneliness and Parkinson disease, the tests were repeated every five years. The final results show that people who said they frequently felt lonely were 37% more likely to develop Parkinson disease. “This correlation holds even when other demographic factors are taken into account, such as socioeconomic status, unhealthy lifestyle habits and genetic predisposition to other diseases,” says Terracciano, although he acknowledges that some variables may attenuate the result.

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