A US research team has determined through laboratory tests that loneliness and social isolation reduce the quality of bones in males, catalyzing the risk of fractures.
According to a new study the loneliness and thesocial isolation have a negative impact on bone health in malesfor example by reducing its mineral density. This condition, also observed in the astronautscan catalyze the risk of fractures, which is widely known to be potentially life-threatening in older people, particularly when the femur is involved. Adverse effects have been observed in laboratory tests on mouse models (topi), however the study authors suspect that loneliness and social isolation reduce the quality of skeleton even in humans. Curiously, the negative impact emerged only in the male specimens, but it cannot be excluded that it could also affect the females in another way females (most exposed to the risk of osteoporosis due to hormonal issues).
A US research team led by scientists from the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough (Maine) determined that loneliness can lower bone health in males, who presented the results of their research during a conference at ENDO 2023 , the annual meeting of the Society of Endocrinology currently taking place in Chicago. The researchers, coordinated by Professor Rebecca Mountain, an expert in bone biology, reached their conclusions after having subjected groups of mice to an ad hoc experiment. Specifically, they kept an isolated specimen in a cage for four weeks and compared the quality of its bone structure (before and after) with that of groups made up of four mice. As indicated, the scientists observed a significant reduction in bone quality in male mice left alone for a month, but not in females. Among the impaired factors is bone mineral density or BMD, a measure of mineral concentration present – such as the soccer – in a given quantity of bone (in humans the unit of measurement is the cubic centimetre).
This feature, detectable through specific tests such as i X-ray and ultrasound, can be altered by multiple factors, ranging from lifestyle all’ageincluding social elements. As indicated, poor quality BMD indicates a higher risk of fractures and also osteoporosis. “Previous clinical research has shown that psychosocial stressors and subsequent mental health disorders are major risk factors for osteoporosis and fractures, which disproportionately affect older adults,” Professor Mountain said in a press release. , adding that the effects of social isolation on bone are still not well understood. Hence the conception of the study on mice and the ‘sibylline’ results. “Overall, our data suggest that social isolation has a dramatic negative effect on bone in male mice, but may operate through different mechanisms or over a different time span in female mice. Future research is needed to understand how these findings translate into human populations,” she said.
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Loneliness experienced because of lockdown and other measures to stem the spread of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2the pathogen responsible for pandemic of COVID-19, therefore it may have worsened our bone health as well. The details of the research presented at the ENDO 2023 conference will be published in an ad hoc scientific article.