“Remarkable excess mortality in residential care centers also due to loneliness”

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According to the website health science.be, the striking excess mortality in Flemish residential care centers is not only due to COVID-19 and the heat wave, but also to the corona measures that make many residents feel isolated and lonely. Reference is made to an American study showing that loneliness increases the risk of premature death by 26 to 32%.

The American study provided an overview of all studies on the impact of loneliness on the risk of premature death published between 1980 and 2014. The study contains data on more than 3.4 million people from 70 studies, followed for an average of 7 years. . The researchers only used data from people who were healthy at the start of the study. In people who felt lonely, the premature death was 26% higher than in persons from a comparable control group. For those who barely have social contacts, that figure rose to 29% and those living alone to 32%.

Less family control

The fact that during the recent heat wave in Flanders almost 400 nursing home residents died more than usual for this time of the year and much more than during the heat wave of 2018, according to Marleen Finoulst of health science.be, may also be due to loneliness and isolation. “The large amount of data in the study and the fact that people were in good health at the outset reinforces the link between loneliness and early death. Perhaps not living alone is the cause of premature death, but the increased risk of an unhealthy lifestyle. In the case of nursing home residents, this may involve drinking insufficiently during the heat, ”says Finoulst.

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