Loneliness commonly felt by older adults can have a negative impact on their physical health, according to a collaborative study from the United Medical Center Amsterdam and the University of Glasgow. Emiel Hoogendijk, an epidemiologist at the Amsterdam Office of Public Health, examined data from more than 130 studies and found a direct link between loneliness and increased levels of frailty.
This condition increases the likelihood of negative health events such as depression, falls, and cognitive decline. The findings were recently published in The Lancet Health and Longevity.
"Recently, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been increased focus on the potentially harmful effects of loneliness and social isolation on the health of older adults. We wanted to see how big these effects were and found that reductions in various social functions, such as loneliness, social isolation and lack of social support, were associated with reduced physical functioning in older adults," said Hoogendijk.
Led by Peter Hanlon, a clinical researcher at the University of Glasgow, the researchers, together with researchers from the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Medicine, Canada, Australia and Sweden, analyzed the relationship between social functioning and frailty in older adults.
"Frailty refers to many different forms of physical deterioration, such as weight loss, slower walking speed, reduced muscle strength, etc. These factors all play a role in the likelihood of falling," Hanlon said.
Research findings on frailty and social contact
Previous research has shown that frailty can lead to reduced social contact. "In some cases, physical frailty can also cause people to lose social contact or become more lonely, for example, because their mobility is reduced," Hoogendijk said. This study shows that this relationship can also be reversed, with reduced social contact leading to frailty. "
Impaired social function can have harmful effects on health. The US Surgeon General claimed last year that loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. We know that people who experience loneliness or lack of social contact are at higher risk for depression and various chronic diseases. For example, a lack of social contact can directly affect the immune system, but it can also affect health indirectly, such as through unhealthy lifestyles. We hope to conduct more research on this in the coming period.
Impairments in social and physical functioning often occur simultaneously. "Physically fragile older people often also face reduced social and psychological functioning. We need to pay attention to all these aspects when caring for older people." He concluded: "Loneliness, for example, is not an easy problem to solve. However, there is now increasing knowledge about possible effective interventions, including activities that support older people to increase social connections."
Compiled from:ScitechDaily