Loneliness: Feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person’s chances of premature death by 14 percent, shows an alarming research. ‘The impact of loneliness on premature death is nearly as strong as the impact of disadvantaged socioeconomic status – that increases the chances of dying early by 19 percent,’ said John Cacioppo, professor of psychology at the Illinois-based University of Chicago. It is not solitude or physical isolation itself, but rather the subjective sense of isolation that the study shows to be so profoundly disruptive.