Association of Loneliness With Change in Physical and Emotional Health of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Shutdown

To examine factors influencing loneliness and the effect of loneliness on physical and emotional health, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective, observational cohort. Community-dwelling participants. Older adults (n = 238) enrolled in a longitudinal study. Interviews were completed Jul...

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Published in:The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2023-12, Vol.31 (12), p.1102-1113
Main Authors: Liu, Julianna, Gou, Ray Yun, Jones, Richard N, Schmitt, Eva M, Metzger, Eran, Tabloski, Patricia A, Arias, Franchesca, Hshieh, Tammy T, Travison, Thomas G, Marcantonio, Edward R, Fong, Tamara, Inouye, Sharon K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
COVID-19
Humans
Loneliness - psychology
Longitudinal Studies
Mental Health
Pandemics
Prospective Studies
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Summary:To examine factors influencing loneliness and the effect of loneliness on physical and emotional health, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective, observational cohort. Community-dwelling participants. Older adults (n = 238) enrolled in a longitudinal study. Interviews were completed July-December 2020. Loneliness was measured with the UCLA 3-item loneliness scale. Data including age, marriage, education, cognitive functioning, functional impairment, vision or hearing impairment, depression, anxiety, medical comorbidity, social network size, technology use, and activity engagement were collected. Health outcomes included self-rated health, and physical and mental composites from the 12-item Short Form Survey. Physical function was measured by a PROMIS-scaled composite score. Thirty-nine (16.4%) participants reported loneliness. Vulnerability factors for loneliness included age (RR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.02-1.14); impairment with instrumental activities of daily living (RR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.14-3.80); vision impairment (RR = 2.09, 95% CI 1.10-3.97); depression (RR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.25-1.43); and anxiety (RR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.55-2.39). Significant resilience factors included high cognitive functioning (RR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.83-0.94); large social network size (RR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.88-0.96); technology use (RR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.73-0.90); and social and physical activity engagement (RR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.98). Interaction analyses showed that larger social network size moderated the effect of loneliness on physical function (protective interaction effect, RR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.15-1.13, p
ISSN:1064-7481
1545-7214
1545-7214
DOI:10.1016/j.jagp.2023.07.015