Prevention & lipidsCohort study
Persistent social connection over time is associated with attenuated biological ageing assessed by AI-enabled electrocardiography
- Retrospective cohort study
- longitudinal
Authors' conclusion
Persistent social connection is associated with slower biological ageing and lower mortality.
Study context
- Population
- Individuals without significant cardiovascular disease (CVD) who completed ≥2 Berkman and Syme Social Network Index questionnaires with paired ECGs within 1 year of each
- Participants
- 17,663 individuals
- Exposure
- Longitudinal social isolation (SI) status vs persistently connected
- Outcome
- Δage-gap (change in gap between AI-ECG-predicted age and chronological age from baseline to follow-up)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Δage-gap (multivariable linear regression)
- Persistently isolated
- β +0.412 years; P < 0.001
- Becoming isolated
- β +0.438 years; P = 0.012
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | aHR (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-cause mortality (multivariable Cox) — Becoming isolated vs Persistently connected · independent of chronological age and comorbidities | 1.94 (1.53–2.46) | P < 0.001 | |
| All-cause mortality (multivariable Cox) — Persistently isolated vs Persistently connected · independent of chronological age and comorbidities | 1.66 (1.40–1.96) | P < 0.001 | |
| 0.512Adjusted hazard ratio (log scale) |
Original publication
Persistent social connection over time is associated with attenuated biological ageing assessed by AI-enabled electrocardiography. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 16 June 2026. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwag212
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it