Suffering from Loneliness Indicates Significant Mortality Risk of Older People

Background. The harmful associates of suffering from loneliness are still in dispute. Objective. To examine the association of feelings of loneliness with all-cause mortality in a general aged population. Methods. A postal questionnaire was sent to randomly selected community-dwelling of elderly peo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Aging Research 2011, Vol.2011 (2011), p.656-660
Main Authors: Tilvis, Reijo S., Laitala, Venla, Routasalo, Pirkko E., Pitkälä, Kaisu Hannele
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Background. The harmful associates of suffering from loneliness are still in dispute. Objective. To examine the association of feelings of loneliness with all-cause mortality in a general aged population. Methods. A postal questionnaire was sent to randomly selected community-dwelling of elderly people (>74 years) from the Finnish National Population Register. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics, living conditions, functioning, health, and need for help. Suffering from loneliness was assessed with one question and participants were categorized as lonely or not lonely. Total mortality was retrieved from the National Population Information System. Results. Of 3687 respondents, 39% suffered from loneliness. Lonely people were more likely to be deceased during the 57-month follow-up (31%) than subjects not feeling lonely (23%, P
ISSN:2090-2212
2090-2204
2090-2212
DOI:10.4061/2011/534781