Loneliness, living alone tied to shorter lifespan

People with heart disease who live alone tend to die sooner than those sharing their home with others, a new study shows.

Although the reasons for the gap are still murky, lead researcher Dr. Deepak Bhatt said access to regular medicine might be involved.

"Patients living alone may have more difficulty getting their medications refilled and taking them regularly," Bhatt told Reuters Health. "They also don't have anyone at home to call the doctor's office or emergency room if they are not looking well."

Earlier research has yielded mixed conclusions, but studies have linked social isolation to everything from heart attacks to weakened immune systems.

Bhatt, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and his colleagues focused specifically on people with known heart disease or at very high risk for it. They included more than 44,000 people, all of whom were 45 or older, from multiple countries across the globe.

Over the four years the study lasted, 7.7 percent of participants younger than 65 who lived on their own died, compared to just 5.7 percent of those who didn't live alone.