Does Loneliness Hurt? Effect of Loneliness on Inflammator Biomarkers, Appetite Hormone Regulation, and Cognitive Function Among Typically Developing Adolescents.

Our findings indicate that loneliness is significantly associated with elevated IL-6 levels among typically developing adolescents. Loneliness may be a clinical marker for systemic inflammation and for subthreshold depression and anxiety in healthy adolescents. Further longitudinal studies are required to investigate the temporal association between loneliness and systemic low-grade inflammation.