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Background <p>Social isolation, an objective lack of social connections, and loneliness, the subjective distress from perceived social deficits, are established risk factors for poor cancer prognosis. However, their associations with cancer incidence remain unclear. We investigated these associations using UK Biobank data.</p> Methods <p>We analyzed data from 354,537 UK Biobank participants aged 38–73. Participants linked to national health registries, without cancer within one year post-baseline, and with complete exposure and covariate data were included. The primary outcome was cancer incidence. Covariates were classified into demographic, physiological, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related indicators. Cox proportional hazards models were used, with subgroup interaction analysis and mediation analyses performed.</p> Results <p>Here we show that 20,767(5.8%) of participants are isolated and 15,942(4.5%) of participants are lonely. During a median 11.60 years (IQR8.40–12.72) of follow-up, 38,103 participants are diagnosed with cancer. After adjusting for covariates, social isolation is associated with an 8% higher cancer risk(CSHR1.087 95% CI 1.043-1.133; sHR1.073 95% CI 1.029-1.120), while loneliness is not. Social isolation shows a strong interaction by sex (P-interaction&lt;0.01), with isolated females at higher risk than males. Social isolation increases the risk of breast, lung, uterine, ovarian, bladder, and stomach cancers in females, and bladder cancer in males. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviours, and inflammation status largely explain these associations.</p> Conclusions <p>Social isolation is a risk factor for cancer with significant sex and organ-specific effects. Addressing socioeconomic challenges, unhealthy lifestyles, and poor mental well-being through health policies could help reduce cancer risk in isolated populations.</p>

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A study of the associations between social isolation and loneliness with sex-specific cancer risk in the UK Biobank

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月2日

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  • Jiahao Cheng,
  • Runchen Wang,
  • Yi Feng,
  • Shijie Ye,
  • Hengrui Liang,
  • Bo Cheng,
  • Qi Cai,
  • Shan Xiong,
  • Yulin Zhao,
  • Xuanzhuang Lu,
  • Qi Zhang,
  • Xufeng Zhao,
  • Juan He,
  • Peiyu Ma,
  • Jianxing He,
  • Wenhua Liang

摘要

Background

Social isolation, an objective lack of social connections, and loneliness, the subjective distress from perceived social deficits, are established risk factors for poor cancer prognosis. However, their associations with cancer incidence remain unclear. We investigated these associations using UK Biobank data.

Methods

We analyzed data from 354,537 UK Biobank participants aged 38–73. Participants linked to national health registries, without cancer within one year post-baseline, and with complete exposure and covariate data were included. The primary outcome was cancer incidence. Covariates were classified into demographic, physiological, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related indicators. Cox proportional hazards models were used, with subgroup interaction analysis and mediation analyses performed.

Results

Here we show that 20,767(5.8%) of participants are isolated and 15,942(4.5%) of participants are lonely. During a median 11.60 years (IQR8.40–12.72) of follow-up, 38,103 participants are diagnosed with cancer. After adjusting for covariates, social isolation is associated with an 8% higher cancer risk(CSHR1.087 95% CI 1.043-1.133; sHR1.073 95% CI 1.029-1.120), while loneliness is not. Social isolation shows a strong interaction by sex (P-interaction<0.01), with isolated females at higher risk than males. Social isolation increases the risk of breast, lung, uterine, ovarian, bladder, and stomach cancers in females, and bladder cancer in males. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviours, and inflammation status largely explain these associations.

Conclusions

Social isolation is a risk factor for cancer with significant sex and organ-specific effects. Addressing socioeconomic challenges, unhealthy lifestyles, and poor mental well-being through health policies could help reduce cancer risk in isolated populations.