Being lonely ‘may increase risk of heart disease in diabetes patients’

Loneliness linked with elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes (Laura Jane Dale/PA)

Being lonely may the increase risk of heart disease in diabetes patients, research suggests.

Scientists have found loneliness to be a bigger risk factor for coronary heart disease – a condition where the blood vessels supplying the heart are narrowed or blocked – than diet, exercise, smoking and depression.