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>One woman who felt isolated in lockdown said loneliness was now a bigger health risk than smoking or obesity. So, this is the source of the article. No refere
by camillomiller 5y ago
>One woman who felt isolated in lockdown said loneliness was now a bigger health risk than smoking or obesity.
So, this is the source of the article. No reference to any single study, despite all the research available on the topic.
What a piece of anecdotical crap this article is.
>Pre-pandemic, the Royal College of General Practitioners Wales called for all practices to have their own social prescriber in a bid to tackle GPs' workload, and "free up their time for those patients most in need of medical care".
In its loneliness action plan it said: "Loneliness and social isolation can be as bad for patients as chronic long-term conditions.
"Loneliness puts people at a 50% increased risk of an early death.
Where the hell is this figure coming from?
What's enraging is how important this topic is. All the bbc could produce is this gossip rag level piece of journalism?
Appalling.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tokai 5y agoIt is stated in the article. The first voxpop is from a Mind Cymru project. They are a Welsh non-profit working with mental health. The other one from Royal College of General Practitioners Wales. You can find their oppinion here[0] and the study with the specific 50% figure here[1]. I think you are overselling how little information is provided. Taking in account the venue and audience it is still easy to look up more specific information with what the article provides. [0] https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/members/faculties/old-age/position-statement-on-loneliness-and-isolation-dec-2019-(3).pdf?sfvrsn=52a394f0_4 https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/members/facult... [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30007359/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30007359/
- IMTDb 5y agoYou might argue that a non-profit organisation that describes itself as "[...] an unstoppable community of people in Wales who won't give up [...]" (See: https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/mind-cymru/ https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/mind-cymru/) might not be the most neutral entity that can produce non biased studies/data. I do believe in their cause, and "raising awareness" usually is a major mission for these orgs. But "raising awareness" is a marketing/communication/political process, that is incompatible with scientific rigour.
- tokai 5y ago>You might argue that a non-profit organisation that describes I'm not. You are arguing against something in your own mind.
- dr_dshiv 5y agoI was shocked that they made the titular quote sound like it was coming from NHS. I'm aware of negative health effects, but mostly in older people: https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older...
- toomanybeersies 5y agoI've noticed that the BBC has been churning out a good number of "loneliness epidemic" articles for a few years now (since before covid). I haven't noticed this trend in any other publications that I read. I have no idea why they've been doing this. To be honest, I haven't looked further into it, and maybe I'm just noticing a pattern where there is none. But it's a thought that's crossed my mind a few times now.
- BurningFrog 5y agoUK now has a loneliness minister: https://time.com/5248016/tracey-crouch-uk-loneliness-minister/ https://time.com/5248016/tracey-crouch-uk-loneliness-ministe... She is not the only one.
- tasuki 5y ago> She is not the only one. Is that done to prevent her loneliness?