Key points from article :
A new study says socialising in old age helps people live longer.
Even socialising weekly or once a month appeared to have health benefits.
Experts found that older people who socialised daily, weekly or monthly had a significantly greater chance of a longer life than those who socialised the least or not at all.
They looked at data for 28,563 Chinese people who were asked about their socialising habits as part of a long-term study.
In first five years, death rates were 18.4 per 100 people who never socialised, and 7.3 among those who did so nearly every day.
Co-factors such as sex, age, diet and marital status were on the list.
The researchers said, "The more frequent the social activity, the more prolonged the survival time".
However, these effects seemed to diminish after five years, among those who managed to live that long.
The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health and carried out at Sichuan University West China Hospital.
