Loneliness Associated With Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Loneliness may be a factor that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes but is not mediated by depression or insomnia, according to new study findings.

A study published in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that loneliness could be a factor that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, and the relationship is not mediated by depression or insomnia.

This study aimed to identify the effect of loneliness on type 2 diabetes.

Participants with self-reported type 1 diabetes or who met the criteria for type 2 diabetes and people who had a metabolic disorder were excluded from the study.

There were 24,024 participants who were included in the analyses, of whom 1179 (4.9%) developed type 2 diabetes during the study period of 1995 to 2019.

Participants with type 2 diabetes were most often men (59.3%) and had a higher mean age (47.9 years vs 43.3 years) compared with those without type 2 diabetes.

Participants who reported higher levels of loneliness had higher odds of type 2 diabetes (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.13; 95% CI, 1.00-1.28).

Participants who had responded to the loneliness survey with “very much” had 2 times the risk of type 2 diabetes in a 20-year follow-up found in HUNT4 (adjusted OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.16-4.15).

Depression was reported 10 years after loneliness and 10 years before type 2 diabetes

Loneliness increases the risk of type 2 diabetes: a 20 year follow-up–results from the HUNT study