Health and Healthcare

Social isolation is linked to higher mortality rates and illness

A protester offers a paper flower to pay honours to a man, who died after falling from a scaffolding at the Pacific Place complex while protesting, during a demonstration demanding Hong Kong's leaders to step down and withdraw the extradition bill, in Hong Kong, China, June 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC19CBB95A60

Psychologists refer to loneliness as painful isolation to make a distinction from solitude. Image: REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina
Senior Researcher and Content Lead, Our World in Data
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Effect of long-term social isolation on mammary tumor growth and diagnosis at 15 months. (A) Tumor burden (mean  SEM) after living alone or in noncrowded social groups. (B) Rats with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or malignant tumors were primarily socially isolated; those with benign or no tumors lived in groups. (C–H) Wide range of naturally developing mammary tumors: (C) fibroadenoma; (D) lactating adenoma; (E) intraductal papilloma; (F) DCIS; (G) invasive ductal carcinoma; (H) fibrosarcoma.
Image: PNAS
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Health and HealthcareMental HealthHealthcare Delivery
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