很多人都知道，孤独不利于心理健康，但你可能不知道，孤独对身体健康也会造成很大危害。研究发现，孤独会将中年男人的患癌风险增加10%，危害力相当于吸烟和肥胖。

 

Lonely and single middle-aged¹ men are at an increased risk of developing cancer than those in a relationship and with people around them, according to a new study.

新研究发现，孤独的单身中年男人比有伴的中年男人患癌风险更高。

 

A team from the University of Eastern Finland worked with 2,570 middle-aged men, monitoring their health and mortality from the 1980s to the present day.

东芬兰大学的研究团队调查了2570名中年男性，从20世纪80年代开始就一直监测他们的健康状况和死亡率。

 

Over the course of the study 25% of participants had developed cancer, with 11% of the Finnish men involved dying from the condition.

在研究期间，25%的参与者患上了癌症，其中有11%的芬兰男性死于癌症。

 

There was a 'clear link' between loneliness and an increased risk of cancer, the team explained, with being lonely increasing the risk of cancer by about ten percent.

研究团队解释道，孤独和患癌风险增加之间有“明显关联”，孤独可导致患癌风险增加约10%。

 

Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death. Loneliness has been suggested as a risk factor for cancer mortality. However, connections between loneliness, social isolation², and cancer are poorly understood.

从全球来看，癌症是人类的第二大死因。目前已经发现，孤独是导致患癌死亡的一个风险因素，但是人们对孤独、社交隔绝和癌症三者之间的联系知之甚少。

 

Recent studies have suggested that loneliness could be as significant a health risk as smoking or being overweight, according to the researchers.

近期的研究显示，孤独对健康的危害可能和吸烟、肥胖一样大。

 

'Our findings support the idea that attention should be paid to this issue,' said project Researcher Siiri-Liisi Kraav from the University of Eastern Finland.

东芬兰大学的项目研究员西瑞-里西·卡拉夫说道：“我们的发现证实，这一问题应该得到重视。”

 

In addition, cancer mortality was higher in cancer patients who were unmarried, widowed or divorced at baseline.

此外，未婚、丧偶或中年离婚的癌症患者死亡率更高。

 

'Awareness³ of the health effects of loneliness is constantly increasing. Therefore, it is important to examine, in more detail, the mechanisms⁴ by which loneliness causes adverse⁵ health effects,' the authors wrote.

作者写道：“孤独对健康的影响越来越受到重视。因此，有必要更详细地研究孤独导致负面健康影响的机制。”

 

'This information would enable us to better alleviate⁶ loneliness and the harm caused by it, as well as to find optimal⁷ ways to target preventive measures.'

“这一信息将让我们能够更好地缓解孤独和由此造成的危害，也有助于找到最理想的预防措施。”

 

The findings were published in Psychiatry⁸ Research.

该研究结果被发表在《精神病学研究》上。

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