College of Medicine

A research team led by Florida State University College of Medicine’s Martina Luchetti, analyzing the relationship between loneliness and dementia, had its work published in Nature Mental Health.

Luchetti and her team ran a meta-analysis of 21 longitudinal studies, including data from more than 600,000 people from around the world, confirming a robust association between loneliness and dementia. It is the largest synthesis of its kind on the association between loneliness and the risk of dementia.

The pooled estimate from the data indicated that feeling lonely increased the risk of developing dementia by 31%.

The teams’ work was spurred by the World Health Organization and U.S. Surgeon General, who have declared loneliness as a public health crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated social restrictions.

“There has been a lot of interest pertaining the consequences of loneliness for health,” said Luchetti, adding that it’s important to “understand why and under what circumstances it increases risk for late life dementia.”

The analysis revealed that, “loneliness matters, independently of age or what sex you are.” It also linked loneliness to risk for specific causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive impairments that can occur before a diagnosis. 

Neither Luchetti nor her co-authors were surprised by what they learned.

“I did find what I hypothesized, which isn’t surprising given the mounting evidence that link loneliness to poor health,” Luchetti said. “Dementia is spectrum, with neuropathological changes that start decades before clinical onset. It is thus important to continuing studying the link of loneliness with different cognitive outcomes or symptoms across this spectrum. Loneliness – the (dis)satisfaction with social relationships – may impact how you are functioning cognitively, and in daily life.”

While the vast amount of analyzed data was collected from Western Hemisphere cultures, Luchetti said additional data needs to be collected from continents like Africa and South America.

“We know there are rising cases of dementia in low-income countries,” she said. “Future studies need to gather more data from those countries to evaluate what are the effects of loneliness in different national and cultural contexts.”

Ultimately, the meta-analysis results provide information relevant for prevention and intervention.

“Now that there is solid evidence of an association,” Luchetti said, “it is critical to identify the sources of loneliness to both prevent or manage loneliness and support the well-being and cognitive health of aging adults.” 

The research was supported by a grant from National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Luchetti is an assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine. Her co-authors at FSU were Damaris Aschwanden, a post-doctoral researcher; Amanda Sesker, a post-doctoral scholar; Professor Antonio Terracciano of the Department of Geriatrics and Professor Angelina Sutin of the Department of Behavioral Science and Social Medicine, all from the College of Medicine. Researchers from Wenzhou Medical University, University of Limerick and University of Montpelier were also co-authors.

Inset photo: Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine