It's more important than diet, cholesterol and smoking: a dangerous health factor for diabetics has been named

Researchers from the European Society of Cardiology conducted a study showing that loneliness worsens the condition of diabetic patients.  

Experts examined the records of more than 18,500 diabetics ages 37 to 73 in the British Biobank, a health and genetic database of more than 500,000 participants. Based on questionnaires, subjects were given a loneliness score of 0 to 2.

Ten years later, 3,247 patients had developed cardiovascular disease (CVD). After adjusting for risk factors such as body mass index, cholesterol levels, sex, and age, it appeared that people with the highest loneliness scores were 26% more likely than those with the lowest to fall victim to the disease. However, loneliness was not as influential as cholesterol, BMI and kidney function in the development of cardiovascular disease, but it stands above diet, smoking, depression and physical activity as an influencing factor.

The study found that social isolation alone was not a significant determinant of cardiovascular disease risk, leading the researchers to conclude that the quality of social contacts mattered more than the quantity.

That said, the very quality of social contacts proved to be more important to heart health in people with diabetes than the quantity. "We should not downplay the importance of loneliness to physical and emotional health. I would advise diabetic patients who feel lonely to join try to make friends with people who have common interests," the researchers wrote.