Observational studyBMC geriatrics2018
The association between living alone and health care utilisation in older adults: a retrospective cohort study of electronic health records from a London general practice.
Observational study in BMC geriatrics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring differential response to an emergency department-based care transition intervention.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2021Trial
- Regional differences in the patient population of general practices in northern Germany: results of a mixed-methods study.BMJ open · 2020Trial
- Healthcare utilization and chronic condition clusters in multimorbidity patients using weighted k-means: a register-based study in Denmark.Health information science and systems · 2026Article
- Digital Device-Related Interference, Living Alone, and Unmet Healthcare Needs: A Population-Based Study of Healthcare Access Barriers.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- 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
- Determinants of male healthcare utilization in Switzerland: does gender identity and migration background matter?BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Chronic conditions and healthcare cost and utilization among underserved Medicare beneficiaries.PloS one · 2026Article
- Social connectedness and healthcare engagement among adults with disabilities: The role of living arrangement.PloS one · 2026Article
- Older people's day centres' preventive work: views of day centre providers and their stakeholders.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Factors associated with quality of life and the use of public healthcare and social services in older adults experiencing loneliness.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Frailty Risk After a Cardiovascular Event Among Community-Dwelling Older People: Influence of Sociodemographic, Polypharmacy, and Pre-event Frailty.The Canadian journal of cardiology · 2025Article
- Segmenting Preventive Health Behavior: Gender Disparities and Psychosocial Predictors in a Culturally Diverse Italian Region.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Frequency and predictors of emergency department visits among the oldest old in Finland: the Vitality 90+ Study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Impact of household size and co-resident multimorbidity on unplanned hospitalisation and transition to care home.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Is living alone associated with mortality among older primary care patients with or without diabetes?BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Health information, what do people search and where? a cross-sectional online survey study in the adult Swiss population.PloS one · 2024Article
- Laos' Social Health Insurance (SHI) program's impact on older people's accessibility and financial security against catastrophic health expense.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Article
- Defining ready for discharge from sub-acute care: a qualitative exploration from multiple stakeholder perspectives.BMC health services research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 2016, one in three older people in the UK were living alone. These patients often have complex health needs and require additional clinical and non-clinical support. This study aimed to analyse the association between living alone and health care utilisation in older patients.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1447 patients over the age of 64, living in 1275 households who were registered at a large general practice in South East London. The utilisation of four different types of health care provision were examined in order to explore the impact of older patients living alone on health care utilisation.
resultsAfter adjusting for patient demographics and clinical characteristics, living alone was significantly associated with a higher probability of utilising emergency department and general practitioner services, with odds ratios of 1.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16 to 1.93) and 1.40 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.88) respectively.
conclusionsLiving alone has an impact on health care service utilisation for older patients. We show that general practice data can be used to identify older patients who are living alone, and general practitioners are in a unique position to identify those who could benefit from additional clinical and non-clinical support. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism driving higher utilisation for those patients who live alone.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.