Loneliness can make many people feel isolated, but a new study suggests it may make individuals more vulnerable to developing Parkinson’s disease.
Among more than 490,000 people included in the UK Biobank and followed for up to 15 years, feeling lonely appeared to increase the likelihood of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by 37%.
“The association between loneliness and Parkinson’s disease was not due to shared genetic, clinical or behavioral risk factors,” said lead researcher Angelina Sutin, a professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee.
Soutine added that although this study cannot prove that loneliness causes Parkinson’s disease, there appears to be a relationship.
She continued: “We have shown that there is a relationship between loneliness and the development of Parkinson’s disease, and not that loneliness causes Parkinson’s disease.”
Sutin explained that loneliness has been identified as a major public health concern by health professionals and the World Health Organization.
She added: “This study adds to the body of evidence on poor outcomes associated with loneliness, especially neurodegenerative diseases. Loneliness has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. “Current research indicates that it is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease as well.”
Sutin suggested that multiple factors may be linked to why feeling lonely may increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
She emphasized: “We found that behavioral and clinical paths represent a small part of the association. The association may be due to other behavioral and clinical factors that we did not take into account. “There could also be metabolic, inflammatory, neurological and endocrine pathways.”
She added: “Loneliness appears to be associated with poor overall brain health, perhaps through increased inflammation or other neurodegenerative processes, and is not necessarily linked to Parkinson’s disease.”
“Loneliness may make the brain more susceptible to neurodegeneration, which for some may lead to Alzheimer’s disease and for others to Parkinson’s disease,” Sutin explained.
Conversely, social contact may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. “We did not test this association in the current study, but yes, social contact is thought to be protective,” Sutin says. “More research is needed to address this issue.”
The results of the study were published in the journal JAMA Neurology.