Giving Compass' Take:

• Research from Florida State University College of Medicine shows that loneliness sparks a 40 percent increase in an individual's chance of getting dementia. 

• What are factors that inhibit loneliness? How are mental health professionals addressing this issue?

• Read more about how the U.S. and other countries now have a loneliness epidemic.

Loneliness increases a person's risk of dementia by 40 percent, according to a data analysis of 12,030 participants over 10 years. Researchers at the Florida State University College of Medicine found the risk applies to all demographics, including gender, race, ethnicity or education, as well as whether there is social contact with friends and family. The findings were published Friday in the Journals of Gerontology.

"We are not the first people to show that loneliness is associated with increased risk of dementia," Dr. Angelina Sutin, an associate professor in FSU's Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine and principal investigator on the study, said in a press release.  "But this is by far the largest sample yet, with a long follow-up. And the population was more diverse."

The researchers studied data on more than 12,000 participants collected as part of the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study of Americans 50 and older, and their spouses, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration.

"I think this study adds to the literature highlighting the importance of psychological factors and how individuals subjectively interpret their own situation," Sutin said. "That's equally important and separate from what we objectively measure. It also lends credibility to the idea of asking people how they feel about things -- in this case, how they feel about their social interactions."

People who feel lonely are likely to have several risk factors for dementia, the researchers said, including diabetes, hypertension and depression. In addition, they are likely to be physically active and more likely to smoke. Loneliness still predicted dementia even after adjusting for those risk.

"Loneliness is a modifiable risk factor," Sutin said. "Most people might describe periods where they felt lonely and then periods where they didn't feel lonely. So just because you feel lonely now, you don't always have to feel this way."

Read the full article about loneliness and dementia by Allen Cone at UPI