The potential public health relevance of social isolation and loneliness: Prevalence, epidemiology, and risk factors

Our social relationships are widely considered crucial to emotional well-being; however, the possibility that social connection may be a biological need, vital to physical well-being and even survival, is commonly unrecognized. Still, extreme examples clearly illustrate infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die (UNICEF, 1997), and social isolation is so distressing that solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment and even torture. Yet an increasing portion of the U.S. population now experiences isolation regularly. News headlines from many nations, including the United States, Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom, suggest that we are facing a loneliness epidemic (http://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/loneliness-research, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-faces-epidemic-of-lonely-and-isolated-seniors-a-876635.html, https://startsat60.com/health/new-survey-reveals-australias-loneliness-epidemic, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/tania-de-jong/loneliness-is-the-global-epidemic-of-our-times), leading to the important question of whether there is evidence to support such a claim and, if so, whether we are facing a public health crisis. Recently my work has systematically examined and summarized the available evidence supporting the public health prioritization of social connections (Holt-Lunstad, Robles, & Sbarra, 2017). Here I will summarize data on prevalence rates, epidemiological evidence of risk, and potential risk factors.