Social isolation has never been more at the heart of public health issues than in recent years. With the pandemic and the various confinements, many people have been faced with this. These are people of all ages who have been deprived of social connections for several weeksor even months.
The first post-Covid studies had already reported consequences on mental health. But to what extent can isolation impact general health? This is what researchers asked themselves, whose study was published last July in the journal
Psychological
Medicine.
Isolation a factor in aging?
To conduct their study, the researchers collected data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. The study follows a cohort of 1037 babies born between April 1, 1972 and March 31, 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Several assessments were carried out throughout their lives, from the ages of 5 to 11, then from the ages of 26 to 38. The study undertook a follow-up of their social isolation status and an assessment of their brain health at age 45. Participants were classified into four categories: never isolated, isolated during childhood only, isolated during adulthood only, isolated during childhood and adult life.
The researchers found that individuals in the adult isolation group had an estimated average brain age 1.73 years higher on average than those who had never been isolated. “The take-home message would be to maintain your social relationships, which will give you better brain health and cognitive function – as well as other benefits – in the long term,” summarized Roy Lay-Yee, one of the study’s authors, at PsyPost. On the other hand, isolation during childhood only had no impact on brain age. “This suggests that it is never too late to improve a person’s social relationships,” comments the researcher. These results could mean that adult isolation has effects on brain aging. Further research will be needed
to confirm a cause and effect relationship.
