Living alone riskier for young and middle-aged adults than seniors, study indicates

Loneliness has been considered a major health risk for seniors, but a new study suggests younger adults might fare even worse from living by themselves. Living alone appears to increase a person’s risk of death from a multitude of causes, particularly among adults 18 to 64, researchers reported in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

A solitary life increased overall risk of death by 22% for people 18 to 64, compared with 6% among seniors 65 and older, the study team found. Younger and middle-aged adults living alone faced the highest death risk from suicide, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and injuries, results showed.

Meanwhile, seniors living alone faced a higher risk of death from suicide, high blood pressure, injuries and heart disease.

However, researchers argued that living alone wasn’t necessarily the direct cause of these higher odds of death. Rather, it’s that people who live alone tend to fall into unhealthy habits.

“Living alone is not necessarily harmful or a suboptimal living arrangement,” said lead researcher Hyunjung Lee, principal scientist of cancer disparity research at the American Cancer Society.

“However, our findings indicate that excess deaths among adults living alone compared to living with others are largely concentrated among individuals with existing health conditions and high-risk health exposures,” Lee said in a news release.

The percentage of people living alone in the United States has nearly doubled during the past six decades, rising from 7.6% (9.4 million) in 1967 to 14.8% (38.1 million) in 2023, researchers said in background notes.

For the new study, they analyzed health data on more than 598,000 American adults from federal surveys and death indexes between 1998 and 2018.

The team used the data to calculate the odds that living alone might increase a person’s overall risk of death, as well as their risk of dying from different causes.

Results showed that among people 18 to 64, living alone increased a person’s risk of dying from:

• Suicide by 58%
• Heart disease by 41%
• Diabetes by 34%
• Colon cancer by 27%
• Injuries by 27%
• Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease by 23%
• Accidents by 17%

Among seniors, living alone was most associated with increased risk of death from suicide (103%), high blood pressure (28%), heart disease (11%) and injuries (16%). People who live alone had differences in lifestyle, access to health care and other health-related factors that explained much of their increased risk, the study team said.

Overall, these factors accounted for 57% of the difference in overall risk of death among people 18 to 64 and 85% of the risk among those 65 and older.

“Persons living alone, particularly men, middle-aged and non-Hispanic white adults, are more likely to smoke and engage in heavy alcohol consumption, which may be potential explanations of the strong association between living alone and all-cause mortality in these groups,” the team wrote.

“Moreover, living alone has been associated with consuming more salty foods, less healthy foods, and fewer doctor visits or health examinations, which may additionally explain higher risk of mortality from several causes of death in this population,” the team added.

Working with people who live alone to improve their diet and health habits might go some way toward lowering their risk of death, the team said.

“Policy and clinical practice efforts are needed to identify modifiable risk factors that contribute to this higher risk of death among those living alone, including chronic disease management, injury prevention, improved access to preventive care and screening for mental health conditions,” Lee said.

“Understanding these factors can help identify people in this population who may benefit most from support and targeted interventions.”

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