Loneliness in middle age and biomarkers of systemic inflammation: Findings from Midlife in the United States.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:Middle-aged adults who are lonely have an elevated likelihood of death. Systemic inflammation may contribute to these increased odds. Using population-level data, this study tested if systemic inflammation is associated with loneliness in a broad age range of middle-aged adults in the United States. METHODS:This study used data from the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) survey Biomarker Project, which collected data on psychological, social, and physiological measures from a sample of middle-aged adults. This sample included the 927 participants who were 35-64?years?at Biomarker Project data collection. MIDUS collected baseline data from 1995-1996 and a follow-up survey was conducted from 2004-2006. The baseline Milwaukee sample of African Americans was collected in 2005-2006 and the biomarker database was collected in 2004-2009. Biomarkers were obtained from a fasting blood sample. Self-reported loneliness was categorized as feeling lonely or not feeling lonely. Hierarchical regressions examined the association between biomarkers of systemic inflammation (interleukin-6, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein) and feeling lonely, adjusted for covariates. RESULTS:Twenty-nine percent of the sample reported feeling lonely most or some of the time. There was a positive significant relationship between loneliness and the three systemic inflammation biomarkers after controlling for covariates: interleukin-6 (n?=?873) (b [se]?=?0.07 [0.03], p?=?.014); fibrinogen (n?=?867) (b [se]?=?18.24 [7.12], p?=?.011); and C-reactive protein (n?=?867) (b [se]?=?0.08 [0.04], p?=?.035). CONCLUSIONS:Feeling lonely is associated with systemic inflammation in middle-aged community-dwelling US adults.

SUBMITTER: Nersesian PV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6013269 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature