Loneliness and social isolation have been linked to a 30% increase in the risk of having a stroke or coronary artery disease, the two major causes of death and illness in wealthy societies.

In findings which compared the effects of loneliness with recognised risk factors,such as anxiety and a stressful job, researchers said that their analysis backed up public health concerns about the importance of social contacts for health and wellbeing.

Loneliness had already been linked to a compromised immune system, high blood pressure and premature death, but its potential effect on heart disease and stroke risk has remained unclear.

Previous studies involving more than 181,000 adults were scrutinised by the researchers, whose findings have been published online in the journal Heart.

The pooled data showed that loneliness and social isolation was associated with a 29% increased risk of a heart or angina attack and a 32% heightened risk of having a stroke.

The researchers, from the universities of York, Liverpool and Newcastle, stress that their study was observational and that firm conclusions cannot be drawn about cause and effect, as well as pointing out that it wasn’t possible to exclude the potential effect of other unmeasured factors.

However, they state: “Our work suggests that addressing loneliness and social isolation may have an important role in the prevention of two of the leading causes of morbidity in high-income countries.”

They noting that a variety of interventions directed at loneliness and social isolation have already been been developed, ranging from group initiatives such as educational programmes and social activities, to one-to-one approaches including befriending and cognitive-behavioural therapy.