ArticleSSM - population health2019
Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines.
Article in SSM - population health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 31 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Causal Assessment of Income Inequality on Self-Rated Health and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Milbank quarterly · 2024Pooled it
- Are social isolation, lack of social support or loneliness risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Australia and New Zealand? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of psychosocial support interventions on survival in inpatient and outpatient healthcare settings: A meta-analysis of 106 randomized controlled trials.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A Randomized Clinical Trial of Online Social Intelligence Training With Custodial Grandmothers.The Gerontologist · 2024Trial
- Sharing meals is associated with greater wellbeing.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Social Isolation and Aging health in Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SIAS): study protocol for a multinational longitudinal study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Quantifying the contribution of social disconnection to the mortality gap associated with mental disorders: a decomposition analysis.European journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Factors of pet ownership associated with human health: A representative cross-sectional survey of Switzerland.PloS one · 2026Article
- Is polycystic ovary syndrome associated with uterine malformations? A systematic review using Bradford Hill's causality framework.Human reproduction open · 2026Review
- The association of cancer-related fatigue on the social, vocational and healthcare-related dimensions of cancer survivorship.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- Social disconnectedness, economic outcomes, and the role of pre-existing mental health conditions: A population-based cohort study.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Long working hours and health in Denmark: a post hoc analysis of three cohort studies.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Social connection as a critical factor for mental and physical health: evidence, trends, challenges, and future implications.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2024Article
- Article
- Cross-border mobility in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: impact of COVID-19 border restrictions on everyday activities and visiting social network members.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Social Health Is Associated With Tract-Specific Brain White Matter Microstructure in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Article
- Sociodemographic and Clinical Factors for Microcephaly Secondary to Teratogenic Infections in Brazil: An Ecological Study.Viruses · 2023Observational
- Changes in structure and function of social networks of independently living middle-aged and older adults in diverse sociodemographic subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Navigating Black Aging: The Biological Consequences of Stress and Depression.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
An abundance of evidence suggests that the size and quality of our social relationships improves humans' physical and mental health while increasing lifespan. However most of this evidence comes from observational rather than experimental (randomised trial) evidence, leaving open the possibility that the connection between social relationships and health could be associational rather than causal. However there are examples, including the link between smoking and lung cancer, where a cause was established without experimental evidence. This was sometimes achieved by looking at the totality of evidence, using the 'Bradford Hill Guidelines', which considers factors including the strength of association, reversibility, and evidence of a plausible mechanism. In this paper we apply the Bradford Hill Guidelines to the link between social relationships and health. We conclude that having strong and supportive social relationships causes better health and longer life. Beyond establishing that social relationships are a causal factor for health, the method we used here can be applied to other areas where randomised trials are unethical or not feasible.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.