Evidence base
American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine
Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors: The Power of Social Connection in Prevention
What it found
This review argues that social connection should be treated as a modifiable risk factor within preventive health frameworks, positioning it alongside diet, exercise, and smoking cessation as a target for population-level intervention.
Why it matters for practice
This is a framing argument rather than an intervention study: it makes the case for where social connection belongs in prevention frameworks, but does not establish which programmes or approaches actually reduce isolation. Useful for justifying investment in connection work to health-system audiences, less useful for choosing what to fund.