Loneliness in older primary care patients and its relationship to physical and mental health-related quality of life

Williams-Farrelly MM, Schroeder MW, Li C, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024;72(3):811-821. doi:10.1111/jgs.18762

This is a retrospective study exploring the relationship between loneliness and quality of life (QoL) in older adults visiting primary care clinics. Data from 603 patients aged 65 and over were used from an ongoing clinical trial examining the risks and benefits for screening for dementia in primary care settings. The data extracted included demographic information and validated measures of loneliness, physical and mental health-related QoL, depression, and anxiety.

Key findings include:

1. Loneliness is moderately associated with poorer mental health-related QOL (MHQoL) and weakly associated with physical health-related QOL (PHQoL).

2. Loneliness was significantly linked with reduced MHQoL, including after adjusting for sociodemographic variables, comorbidity severity, or and comorbid depression and anxiety.

3. Depression and anxiety were strongly correlated with lower MHQoL, while factors such as higher education and income were associated with better PHQoL.

The study emphasizes the importance of addressing loneliness as a public health issue. Older adults frequently visit primary care, making it an ideal setting for loneliness screening and intervention. The authors recommend incorporating psychosocial interventions, such as enhancing social connections and addressing maladaptive social cognition, to mitigate loneliness and its health impacts. Some limitations include the lack of geographical and racial and ethnic diversity and the inability to establish causation with these results. This research aligns with broader public health efforts to address the loneliness epidemic and improve the wellbeing of aging populations.

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