SynthesisThe American psychologist
Loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review with meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The American psychologist. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 240 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Interventions to Reduce Loneliness in Elderly Patients in the Cardiac ICU (CICU): A Randomized Control Trial
Alleviating Loneliness in Older Adults Living in Poverty: A Multi-level Intervention
Who cites it
240 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 522 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community and societal influences on loneliness and social isolation among young adults: a systematic review of observational studies.Epidemiologic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness without an epidemic: gendered pathways, health consequences, and intervention gaps among men in the United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- An Updated Systematic Literature Review of the Economic Costs of Loneliness and Social Isolation and the Cost Effectiveness of Interventions.PharmacoEconomics · 2025Pooled it
- What works to reduce loneliness: a rapid systematic review of 101 interventions.Journal of public health policy · 2025Pooled it
- Loneliness, social isolation, and living alone: a comprehensive systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of mortality risks in older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Pooled it
- Relationship between loneliness and internet addiction: a meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Association between the COVID-19 pandemic and psychiatric symptoms in people with preexisting obsessive-compulsive, eating, anxiety, and mood disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of before-after studies.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2023Pooled it
- Social isolation and social connectedness among young adult cancer survivors: A systematic review.Cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Changes in sleep quality and sleep disturbances in the general population from before to during the COVID-19 lockdown: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Behavioral Activation and Mindfulness Interventions in Reducing Loneliness and Improving Well-Being in Older Adults: The HEAL-HOA Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Activating perceived social support combined with diluting loneliness: Effects of the personal resources energized intervention program (PREIP) on problematic smartphone use among adolescents.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Trial
- The KIND Challenge community intervention to reduce loneliness and social isolation, improve mental health, and neighbourhood relationships: an international randomized controlled trial.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Trial
- Supportive-leadership training to improve social connection: A cluster-randomized trial demonstrating efficacy in a high-risk occupational context.Journal of occupational health psychology · 2024Trial
- A Randomized Clinical Trial of Online Social Intelligence Training With Custodial Grandmothers.The Gerontologist · 2024Trial
- Reducing Loneliness through the Power of Practicing Together: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Online Dyadic Socio-Emotional vs. Mindfulness-Based Training.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Trial
- Efficacy of an Internet-based self-help intervention with human guidance or automated messages to alleviate loneliness: a three-armed randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Developing a brief assessment of social risks for the Veterans Health Administration Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients.Health services research · 2023Trial
- A Survey to Assess Loneliness and Predictive Factors Among Students at a US Medical School.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Loneliness and Personality: Noise- and Bias-Free True Correlations Between Loneliness and the Big Five Personality Domains.Journal of personality · 2026Article
180 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and measures aimed at its mitigation, such as physical distancing, have been discussed as risk factors for loneliness, which increases the risk of premature mortality and mental and physical health conditions. To ascertain whether loneliness has increased since the start of the pandemic, this study aimed to narratively and statistically synthesize relevant high-quality primary studies. This systematic review with meta-analysis was registered at PROSPERO (ID CRD42021246771). Searched databases were PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library/Central Register of Controlled Trials/EMBASE/CINAHL, Web of Science, the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 database, supplemented by Google Scholar and citation searching (cutoff date of the systematic search December 5, 2021). Summary data from prospective research including loneliness assessments before and during the pandemic were extracted. Of 6,850 retrieved records, 34 studies (23 longitudinal, 9 pseudolongitudinal, 2 reporting both designs) on 215,026 participants were included. Risk of bias (RoB) was estimated using the risk of bias in non-randomised studies-of interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. Standardized mean differences (SMD, Hedges' g) for continuous loneliness values and logOR for loneliness prevalence rates were calculated as pooled effect size estimators in random-effects meta-analyses. Pooling studies with longitudinal designs only (overall N = 45,734), loneliness scores (19 studies, SMD = 0.27 [95% confidence interval = 0.14-0.40], Z = 4.02, p < .001, I 2 = 98%) and prevalence rates (8 studies, logOR = 0.33 [0.04-0.62], Z = 2.25, p = .02, I 2 = 96%) increased relative to prepandemic times with small effect sizes. Results were robust with respect to studies' overall RoB, pseudolongitudinal designs, timing of prepandemic assessments, and clinical populations. The heterogeneity of effects indicates a need to further investigate risk and protective factors as the pandemic progresses to inform targeted interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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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.