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 different causes, particularly among adults 18 to 64, researchers reported Oct. 27 in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
A solitary life increased overall risk of death by 22 percent for people 18 to 64, compared with 6 percent 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 percent (9.4 million) in 1967 to 14.8 percent (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 aged 18 to 64, living alone increased a person’s risk of dying from:
Among seniors, living alone was most associated with increased risk of death from suicide (103 percent), high blood pressure (28 percent), heart disease (11 percent), and injuries (16 percent).
The study team said people who live alone had differences in lifestyle, access to health care, and other health-related factors that explained much of their increased risk.
Overall, these factors accounted for 57 percent of the difference in overall risk of death among people 18 to 64 and 85 percent 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 help lower 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.”
Living alone shouldn’t automatically be viewed as a risk factor for poorer health outcomes, but social isolation and lack of support networks may affect health outcomes. Black Americans may experience unique social stressors, including neighborhood disinvestment, discrimination, caregiver burdens, and economic instability that can compound the effects of social isolation.
For clinicians, distinguishing between living alone and social connectedness is critical, as some individuals living alone maintain strong community, faith-based, and family networks. Physical solitude doesn’t mean that an individual is isolated or lonely.
Social support remains an important protective factor for chronic disease management, mental health, and engagement in preventive care. Clinicians should incorporate social risk screening into routine care to assess which non-medical factors could be influencing a patient’s physical and mental well-being.
The study suggests that providers may need to pay extra attention to younger adults who live alone, since they are often overlooked compared with older adults.
During routine care, providers can screen patients for social isolation and loneliness.
Practical approaches can include:
More information
The Cleveland Clinic has more on how living alone can impact your health.
SOURCE: American Cancer Society, news release, Oct. 27, 2026
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