Association of Loneliness and Social Isolation with Ischemic Heart Disease: A Bidirectional and Network Mendelian Randomization Study.

Objective: Observational studies have shown inconsistent associations of loneliness or social isolation (SI) with ischemic heart disease (IHD), with unknown mediators.

Methods: Using data from genome-wide association studies of predominantly European ancestry, we performed a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study to estimate causal effects of loneliness ( = 487,647) and SI traits on IHD ( = 184,305). SI traits included whether individuals lived alone, participated in various types of social activities, and how often they had contact with friends or family ( = 459,830 to 461,369). A network MR study was conducted to evaluate the mediating roles of 20 candidate mediators, including metabolic, behavioral and psychological factors.

Results: Loneliness increased IHD risk ( = 2.129; 95% confidence interval [ ]: 1.380 to 3.285), mediated by body fat percentage, waist-hip ratio, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. For SI traits, only fewer social activities increased IHD risk ( = 1.815; 95% : 1.189 to 2.772), mediated by hypertension, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting insulin, and smoking cessation. No reverse causality of IHD with loneliness and SI was found.

Conclusion: These findings suggested more attention should be paid to individuals who feel lonely and have fewer social activities to prevent IHD, with several mediators as prioritized targets for intervention.