Lonely Children May Grow Up With Fragile Hearts - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today"For some patients with cardiovascular disease risk factors, the root cause may be the loneliness of childhood, according to a study that followed more than 1,000 adults from birth. Those who were socially isolated as children and adolescents were up to 2.5 times more likely than others to have three or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and elevated cholesterol, said Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D., of the Institute of Psychiatry here...."