ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
Loneliness and isolated living status in middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan: exploration on stress-related biomarkers, depressive symptoms, and disability.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loneliness and Functional Decline in Aging: A Systematic Review.Research in gerontological nursingPooled it
- Double burden of living alone and in poor socioeconomic conditions among urban-dwelling older Nigerians: a multilevel analysis.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Depressive symptoms in people with late effects of polio and the association with sociodemographic and disability-related factors.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Article
- Flourishing mental health despite disabling chronic pain: Findings from a nationally representative sample of Canadians with arthritis.PloS one · 2023Article
- Exploring the Influencing Factors on Living Alone and Social Isolation among Older Adults in Rural Areas of Thailand.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeLoneliness is a subjective feeling by which an individual perceives a lack of closeness in interpersonal relationships. An isolated living status is linked with higher odds of risky health behavior. The conflicting impacts of loneliness and isolated living status on stress-related biomarkers, depressive symptoms, and disability remain unexplained.
methodsSix hundred twenty-nine participants aged 66.0 (SD=7.3) separated into four groups: "Lonely and Isolated," "Not Lonely, but Isolated," "Lonely, but Not Isolated," and "Neither Lonely, nor Isolated," were retrieved from the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study conducted in 2000. Follow-up health indicators in 2006 included three stress-related biomarkers, depressive symptoms, and two physical disability indicators. A hierarchical regression was performed for the analysis.
resultsFirstly, compared to the "Neither Lonely nor Isolated" group, only the "Lonely, but Not Isolated" participants at baseline retained positive associations with the stress-related biomarkers levels 6 years later (urine cortisol level (B=9.25, 95% CI=3.24-15.27), serum Interleukin-6 level (B=2.76, 95% CI=0.72-4.79) and the serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level (B=0.40, 95% CI=0.17-0.62)). However, such associations were not observed in the "Lonely and Isolated" participants. Secondly, only "Lonely and Isolated" participants at baseline were positively associated with depressive symptoms 6 years later (B=1.70, 95% CI=0.11-3.30). Finally, the associations between combinations of loneliness and isolated living status and physical disability were eliminated after adjusting the covariables.
conclusionFour combinations of loneliness and isolated living status were associated with different impacts on stress-related biomarkers, depressive symptoms, and physical disability. Further dynamic investigations are warranted.
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