Chronic and Transient Loneliness in Western Countries: Risk Factors and Association With Depression. A 2-Year Follow-Up Study
Por:
Domènech J, Gabarrell A, Mundó J, Haro JM and Varga TV
Publicada:
1 abr 2024
Ahead of Print:
1 mar 2024
Resumen:
Introduction: Our aim was to test risk factors for chronic and transient loneliness as well as cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of courses of loneliness with depression. Methods: Responses from participants in Wave 5 (T1, 2013) and Wave 6 (T2, 2015) of The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (N = 45,490) were analyzed. The existence of clinically significant symptoms of depression was defined as reporting a value greater than or equal to 4 on the Euro-D scale. Loneliness was measured through the 3 -item UCLA loneliness scale and a single question. Both measures were tested in separate regression models to identify risk factors for transient (loneliness at T1) and chronic (loneliness at T1 and T2) loneliness as well as their associations with depression. Results: Chronic loneliness was observed in 47%-40% of the cases of loneliness, according to the UCLA scale and the single question, respectively. Risk factors for chronic loneliness in both models were being female, not being married, having a low educational level, having poor mental and physical health, being limited in activities, having a poor social network, and living in a culturally individualistic country. Risk factors for transient loneliness were less robust and no significant effects were found for variables such as sex and physical health in both models, education level in the UCLA measure model, and social network size in the single question model. Chronic loneliness also showed a strong association with depression in the cross-sectional model and a marked one in the longitudinal model. Conclusion: The courses of loneliness are relevant in the study of its risk factors and association with depression. (Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2024; 32:412-423)
Filiaciones:
Domènech J:
Epidemiology of Mental Health Disorders and Ageing Research Group (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute, Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Research, Teaching, and Innovation Unit (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
Gabarrell A:
Epidemiology of Mental Health Disorders and Ageing Research Group (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute, Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Research, Teaching, and Innovation Unit (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
Department of Medicine (AG-P), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Mundó J:
Department of Sociology (JM), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Haro JM:
Epidemiology of Mental Health Disorders and Ageing Research Group (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute, Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Research, Teaching, and Innovation Unit (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) (JD-A, AG-P, JMH), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
Department of Psychiatry (JMH), Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Princesa (IIS-Princesa), Madrid, Spain
Varga TV:
Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health (TVV), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Green Accepted
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