Researchers used the viral challenge paradigm, which exposes individuals to a virus to examine how psychological factors impact susceptibility to the illness and self-reported illness symptoms to assess if loneliness was a factor in infection sensitivity or symptom reporting.
Lonely participants were no more likely to be susceptible to acute infection; however, they reported more severe symptoms over the course of five days in quarantine, according to the study.
Clinicians should be aware that the quality of a patient’s social relationships is a powerful predictor of their acute illness experience, according to the study.
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