[bjourne]

Of course there is no direct causation between loneliness and death. You don't directly die from lack of social interaction, but you do directly die from lack of food. However, there is a clear causal link between loneliness and habits that increase mortality.

[Taek]

No I believe its reasonably well established that being lonely itself takes a toll on your health. Stress goes up etc.

The problem is that this article is overstating the effect on mortality because its not controlling for confounding factors very well.

[lynx97]

> Of course there is no direct causation between loneliness and death.

Of course there is. If you are alone at home, who calls an ambulance if you have a heart attack or similar condition? If you are living together with someone, the chance they are arund while it happens is all thats needed to skew the statistics.

[mrkickling]

Do you not believe that mental well being is affected by loneliness? And that mental well being could affect mortality?