Half of those who say they always feel lonely (50%) have clinical depression, compared with just 10% of those who report never feeling lonely, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. Photo by amirhossein hasani/Pexels
July 10 (UPI) -- Loneliness dramatically increases a person's risk of depression and poor health, a new study says.
Half of folks who say they always feel lonely (50%) have clinical depression, compared with just 10% of those who report never feeling lonely, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
They also have many more days when their mental or physical health falters, researchers found.
"People who felt lonely 'always' had a fivefold increase in depression risk, 11 more poor mental health days, and five additional poor physical health days per month compared to those who never felt lonely," lead researcher Dr. Oluwasegun Akinyemi, a senior research fellow at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., said in a news release.
