Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34614534›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of geriatric psychiatry2022

Loneliness in older adult mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic and before: Associations with disability, functioning and pharmacotherapy.

Flora Greig, Gayan Perera, Konstantinos Tsamakis, Robert Stewart, Latha Velayudhan, Christoph Mueller

Registry-linked trialOpen access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07107906 (The CONNECT Program), which is not on this map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07107906 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

The CONNECT Program: Engaging Community Organizations in the Implementation and Evaluation of a Group Telehealth Mental Health Program for Older Canadians

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of ManitobaRan2025 to 2026Enrolled128ConditionsLoneliness, Social Isolation, Depression Disorders, AnxietyArmsThe CONNECT Program, Community Participation as Usual (Service as Usual)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Flora GreigSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Gayan PereraInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3414-303X
Konstantinos TsamakisInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Robert StewartSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4435-6397
Latha VelayudhanSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7712-930X
Christoph MuellerSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9816-1686
King's College London · GBSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_PC_17214Medical Research Council MR/T045302/1Medical Research Council MR/V049879/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesLoneliness is associated with psychiatric morbidity. Restrictions placed on the population during the first COVID-19 lockdown may have disproportionately affected older adults, possibly through increasing loneliness. We sought to investigate this by examining loneliness in referrals to mental health of older adults (MHOA) services during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown.

methodsReferrals to MHOA services from a large South London catchment area were identified for the 16-week period of the UK lockdown starting in March 2020 and for the corresponding period in 2019. A natural language processing algorithm identified loneliness in the patients' records. We applied logistic regression models adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity and diagnosis, to examine associations of loneliness in the study population.

results1991 referrals were identified, 56.9% of whom were female, with a mean age of 77.9 years. Only 26.9% occurred during the 2020 lockdown, but with a higher prevalence of loneliness (22.0 vs. 17.7%, p = 0.028). In the whole sample, loneliness was associated with non-accidental self-injury (Odds ratio [OR]: 1.65), depressed mood (OR: 1.73), psychotic symptoms (OR: 1.65), relationship problems (OR: 1.49), problems with daytime activities (OR: 1.36), and antidepressant use (OR: 2.11). During lockdown, loneliness was associated with non-accidental self-injury (OR: 2.52), problem drinking or drug-taking (OR 2.33), and antidepressant use (OR 2.10).

conclusionsLoneliness is associated with more severe symptoms of affective illness, worse functional problems and increased use of antidepressant medication in older adults. During lockdown, loneliness in referrals to MHOA services increased and was associated with increased risk-taking behaviour. Loneliness is a potential modifiable risk factor for mental illness, and efforts to minimise it in older adults should be prioritised as we emerge from the pandemic.

Indexed as

COVID-19lockdownlonelinessmental illnessolder adult

Identifiers

PMID34614534
PMCPMC8646648
OpenAlexW3204611707

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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.