SynthesisNature human behaviour2023
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 cohort studies of social isolation, loneliness and mortality.
Synthesis in Nature human behaviour, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 207 papers, 12 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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
207 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of Loneliness and Social Isolation Among People Living With HIV: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Pooled it
- Social relationships and risk of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases: a meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Pooled it
- ASSeTS: a systematic review and development of the World Health Organization's classification system for social isolation and loneliness interventions.Population health metrics · 2026Pooled it
- Social isolation and loneliness effects on medication adherence in older adults: perspectives from a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness without an epidemic: gendered pathways, health consequences, and intervention gaps among men in the United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Association of social isolation, loneliness and risk of cardiovascular diseases: Meta-analysis of cohort studies.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and correlates of loneliness and social isolation in the oldest old: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- Loneliness and cognition in older adults: A meta-analysis of harmonized studies from the United States, England, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, and Chile.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Loneliness, social isolation, and living alone: a comprehensive systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of mortality risks in older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Pooled it
- The Assessment of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Cancer Patients and Survivors in the Pre-COVID-19 Period: A Systematic Review.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cardiovascular Mortality: The Role of Health Care System Interventions.Current cardiology reports · 2024Pooled it
- The experience of loneliness among people with psychosis: Qualitative meta-synthesis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Are quantitative targets for social network size and interaction frequency appropriate for public health guidelines on social connection? Evidence from loneliness and related mental health outcomes.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- What makes a lonely child: environmental, health, and multimodal neuroimaging correlates of prospective loneliness in the ABCD study.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Lifestyle, Sleep, and Psychological Correlates of Social Participation Across Mediterranean and Neighbouring Countries: Findings from the MEDIET4ALL Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development of a Predictive Model for the Onset of Loneliness in Older Adults From the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology-Study of Geriatric Syndromes.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations of loneliness, social isolation and healthy lifestyle with life expectancy free of major physical disease and mental disorder.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The dynamic interplay between loneliness and health behaviors from adolescence to midlife: A Norwegian population-based cohort study.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Associations of changes in social isolation and loneliness with all-cause mortality among older adults: a prospective cohort study.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The pivotal role of the food service industry in alleviating urban segregation and boosting city vitality.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
147 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The associations between social isolation, loneliness and the risk of mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer are controversial. We systematically reviewed prospective studies on the association between social isolation, loneliness and mortality outcomes in adults aged 18 years or older, as well as studies on these relationships in individuals with CVD or cancer, and conducted a meta-analysis. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO (reg. no. CRD42022299959). A total of 90 prospective cohort studies including 2,205,199 individuals were included. Here we show that, in the general population, both social isolation and loneliness were significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (pooled effect size for social isolation, 1.32; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.26 to 1.39; P < 0.001; pooled effect size for loneliness, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.20; P < 0.001) and cancer mortality (pooled effect size for social isolation, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.19 to 1.28; P < 0.001; pooled effect size for loneliness, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.17; P = 0.030). Social isolation also increased the risk of CVD mortality (1.34; 95% CI, 1.25 to 1.44; P < 0.001). There was an increased risk of all-cause mortality in socially isolated individuals with CVD (1.28; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.48; P = 0.001) or breast cancer (1.51; 95% CI, 1.34 to 1.70; P < 0.001), and individuals with breast cancer had a higher cancer-specific mortality owing to social isolation (1.33; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.75; P = 0.038). Greater focus on social isolation and loneliness may help improve people's well-being and mortality risk.
Indexed as
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Registered trials
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.