Living Alone - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

If you or a relative live alone, this is a story you should know.

Living alone may be a serious risk factor for failing health.

Two new studies suggest that living alone or being lonely can raise a person's risk of dying from heart disease or any cause.

In one study, people with heart disease who lived alone were more likely to die than their counterparts who did not.

A second report showed that people aged 60 or older were at an increased risk of functional decline and/or death if they felt left out, isolated or reported a lack of companionship.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston only looked at whether the individual lived alone.

Researchers did not ask whether this was a choice or if they had lost a partner or had a pet.

Both studies appear in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine.