Thread by @eortizospina

Twitter hive mind: Im looking for good evidence on causal impact of loneliness on health! Here’s what I have so far. [1/6]

[2/6] There are tons of observational studies showing loneliness predicts morbidity and mortality. Across people, and for individuals over time.
Here is a much-cited review of the evidence: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

[3/6] There are experiments with mice, showing induced isolation predicts cancer (pnas.org/content/pnas/1…)

[4/6] Several papers argue there's a biological mechanism: perceived isolation sets off unconscious surveillance for social threat, producing cognitive biases, reducing sleep, affecting hormones, etc

Susan Pinker's book discusses some of these mechanisms: amazon.com/Village-Effect…

[5/6] There’s also evidence of social regulation of gene expression. Genome-wide transcriptional activity suggests perceived loneliness can switch on/off genes that regulate our immune response to disease (pnas.org/content/pnas/1…)

[6/6] I’d like to hear what other people think about these studies, and whether you have more references that can help me understand the causal impact of loneliness on health. (I have not seen (yet) any convincing RCTs or experiments exploring this question.)

@salonium, if you have time I'd love to hear your opinion 🙂