ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2018
Loneliness and Health Service Utilization among the Rural Elderly in Shandong, China: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed.
- How do limited familial ties and community relationships shape health-seeking in older adulthood? Evidence from Indonesia.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Associations of social isolation and loneliness with healthcare utilization among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Innovation in aging · 2026Review
- Loneliness among older adults with chronic diseases and multimorbidity: a scoping review of prevalence and associated factors.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The impact of loneliness on healthcare costs and service utilisation and the cost-effectiveness of loneliness interventions: systematic review.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Illness acceptance and community self-efficacy mediate the relationship between social isolation and loneliness among elderly people with parkinson's disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Examining the longitudinal influence of loneliness on healthcare utilization: evidence from Taiwan's national health insurance data.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Adaptation to Long-Term Home Non-Invasive Ventilation for People with Chronic Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure: A Qualitative Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Social health insurance, family support, and chronic diseases as determinants of health service utilization among senior citizens in rural Nepal.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Attitude towards aging and anxiety in the relationship between social alienation and depression in Chinese rural empty-nest older adults: a chained mediation modeling analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Determinants of the number of dental visits in the general adult population in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between loneliness, social isolation, and healthcare utilisation trajectories: a latent growth curve analysis.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Early-life circumstances and late life loneliness trajectories among Finnish older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Multifaceted impacts of double-aging neighborhood's built environments on SAIP: a deep dive into Chinese rapidly aging urban society.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The relationship between Internet use and loneliness of middle-aged and older adult people: the moderating effect of residence.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Exploring the association between social isolation and utilization of primary health services by older adults: evidence from China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Analysis of the Psychosocial Sphere of Older Adults in Extreme Poverty in the Peruvian Amazon.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Use of pharmacy services in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults; findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2023Article
- Complex association of self-rated health, depression, functional ability with loneliness in rural community-dwelling older people.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Negative association between loneliness and healthy state among rural residents in Japan: a cross-sectional single region population-based survey.Journal of rural medicine : JRM · 2023Article
- Sexual Behavior and Perceived Loneliness in Elderly People Living with HIV in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
objectivesTo examine the prevalence of loneliness and to explore the association between loneliness and health service utilization among the rural elderly in Shandong Province, China.
methodsA total of 5514 rural people aged 60 and above from Shandong Province, China, were enrolled in this study. Loneliness was used as a binary variable based on a single-item question. Health service utilization was measured by recent two-week physician visits and annual hospitalizations rates. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between loneliness and health service utilization.
resultsThe prevalence of loneliness among the rural elderly in Shandong, China, was 25.0%. Loneliness was associated with higher rates of recent two-week physician visits (OR = 1.260,
conclusionsLoneliness had a significant association with higher odds of health service utilization among the elderly. The independent contribution of loneliness on health service utilization was smaller than self-rated health status and chronic conditions. Thus, healthcare policies need to shift from an emphasis on controlling health utilization and cost to a greater focus on enabling lonely older people to get more social support.
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