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Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe

Purpose: Loneliness and social isolation have detrimental effects on health in old age; however, the prospective associations with quality of life (QoL) remain unclear. Furthermore, despite the existence of a European north-south gradient in the distribution of loneliness and social isolation, littl...

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Autores principales: Beridze, Giorgi, Ayala, Alba, Ribeiro, Oscar, Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria, Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen, Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Vicente, Rojo-Pérez, Fermina, Forjaz, Maria João, Calderón-Larrañaga, Amaia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7699832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33233793
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228637
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author Beridze, Giorgi
Ayala, Alba
Ribeiro, Oscar
Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria
Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen
Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Vicente
Rojo-Pérez, Fermina
Forjaz, Maria João
Calderón-Larrañaga, Amaia
author_facet Beridze, Giorgi
Ayala, Alba
Ribeiro, Oscar
Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria
Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen
Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Vicente
Rojo-Pérez, Fermina
Forjaz, Maria João
Calderón-Larrañaga, Amaia
author_sort Beridze, Giorgi
collection PubMed
description Purpose: Loneliness and social isolation have detrimental effects on health in old age; however, the prospective associations with quality of life (QoL) remain unclear. Furthermore, despite the existence of a European north-south gradient in the distribution of loneliness and social isolation, little is known whether the associations are context-specific. We investigated the relationships between loneliness, social isolation and QoL of older adults residing in the North (Sweden) and South (Spain) of Europe. Methods: Study sample consisted of 2995 Swedish and 4154 Spanish older adults who participated in waves six and seven of the Study on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Loneliness and social isolation were measured at the baseline, and QoL was measured at the baseline and follow-up using CASP-12. Prospective associations were assessed via multivariate linear regression. Results: In Sweden, subjects with higher vs. lower loneliness had 1.01 (95% CI: −1.55, −0.40) units lower QoL, while every standard deviation increase in social isolation was associated with a 0.27 (95% CI: −0.42, −0.09)-unit decrease in QoL. In Spain, every standard deviation increase in social isolation was associated with a 0.66 (95% CI: −1.11, −0.22)-unit decrease in QoL. The association was stronger in subjects aged ≤65 years old and those with no chronic diseases. The association with loneliness was not statistically significant in Spain. Conclusion: Loneliness and social isolation are prospectively associated with decreased QoL among older adults, yet the associations are contextually bound. Future interventions should target both exposures, among others, in order to increase QoL in this group.
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spelling pubmed-76998322020-11-29 Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe Beridze, Giorgi Ayala, Alba Ribeiro, Oscar Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Vicente Rojo-Pérez, Fermina Forjaz, Maria João Calderón-Larrañaga, Amaia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Purpose: Loneliness and social isolation have detrimental effects on health in old age; however, the prospective associations with quality of life (QoL) remain unclear. Furthermore, despite the existence of a European north-south gradient in the distribution of loneliness and social isolation, little is known whether the associations are context-specific. We investigated the relationships between loneliness, social isolation and QoL of older adults residing in the North (Sweden) and South (Spain) of Europe. Methods: Study sample consisted of 2995 Swedish and 4154 Spanish older adults who participated in waves six and seven of the Study on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Loneliness and social isolation were measured at the baseline, and QoL was measured at the baseline and follow-up using CASP-12. Prospective associations were assessed via multivariate linear regression. Results: In Sweden, subjects with higher vs. lower loneliness had 1.01 (95% CI: −1.55, −0.40) units lower QoL, while every standard deviation increase in social isolation was associated with a 0.27 (95% CI: −0.42, −0.09)-unit decrease in QoL. In Spain, every standard deviation increase in social isolation was associated with a 0.66 (95% CI: −1.11, −0.22)-unit decrease in QoL. The association was stronger in subjects aged ≤65 years old and those with no chronic diseases. The association with loneliness was not statistically significant in Spain. Conclusion: Loneliness and social isolation are prospectively associated with decreased QoL among older adults, yet the associations are contextually bound. Future interventions should target both exposures, among others, in order to increase QoL in this group. MDPI 2020-11-20 2020-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7699832/ /pubmed/33233793 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228637 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Beridze, Giorgi
Ayala, Alba
Ribeiro, Oscar
Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria
Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen
Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Vicente
Rojo-Pérez, Fermina
Forjaz, Maria João
Calderón-Larrañaga, Amaia
Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title_full Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title_fullStr Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title_full_unstemmed Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title_short Are Loneliness and Social Isolation Associated with Quality of Life in Older Adults? Insights from Northern and Southern Europe
title_sort are loneliness and social isolation associated with quality of life in older adults? insights from northern and southern europe
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7699832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33233793
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228637
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