India, Sept. 27 -- The numbers paint a grim picture. Roughly half of all U.S. adults are lonely, according to a 2023 report, and nearly as many feel socially isolated. Though just as serious as other health risks, loneliness and social isolation remain underappreciated as urgent public health concerns.

But just how many healthy years might loneliness and social isolation actually cost us? Researchers did not have a clear answer - until now.

A team from Tulane University's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public and Tropical Medicine has completed a first-of-its-kind observational study, published in Nature Communications, that found loneliness and social isolation are costing people nearly six years of life free from mental disorders l...