ArticlePloS one2022
Impact of COVID-19 on the social relationships and mental health of older adults living alone: A two-year prospective cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations between social alienation, psychological resilience, perceived intergenerational communication, and perceived care-related autonomy among rural older adults in China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Effects of integrated care on the subjective quality of life and social relationships of older adults in South Korea.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on Suicide Attempts and Suicide Deaths in South Korea, 2016-2020: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Psychiatry investigation · 2024Article
- Predictors of Depression in Elderly According to Gender during COVID-19: Using the Data of 2020 Community Health Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A narrative review: suicide and suicidal behaviour in older adults.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Impact of COVID-19 on Lifestyle: A Sample of Iranian Older Adults.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2023Article
- Social participation during the COVID-19 pandemic in persons with a high risk for a severe course of COVID-19 - results of a longitudinal, multi-center observational study in Germany.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOwing to the COVID-19 outbreak, older adults living alone, who can only connect socially outside their homes, are at risk of social isolation and poor mental health. This study aimed to identify the changes, before and after COVID-19, by sex and age, in social relationships (social activity, social network, and social support) and mental health (depression and suicide ideation) among older adults living alone.
methodsThis is a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling older adults who were at least 65 years old and living alone in South Korea. The study was conducted during 2018-2020 with 2,291 participants (795, 771, and 725 for the 1st to 3rd waves, respectively). The data were collected via face-to-face interviews. A generalized linear mixed modeling framework was used to test for changes over three years.
resultsSocial activity was reduced after the COVID-19, with an interaction effect of sex: older women (odds ratio [OR], 0.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15-0.23; p < .001) showed greater reduction than older men (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.34-0.75; p < .001). Interaction with neighbors also reduced after the pandemic, but there was no significant evidence of interaction effects. Interaction with family members increased in both sexes during the pandemic, with the interaction effect of sex: older women (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.11-1.76; p = .004) showed greater increase than men (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.13-2.14; p = .007). Social support increased in both sexes during the pandemic, but there was no significant evidence of interaction effects. Depression and suicide ideation showed no significant differences before and after the pandemic.
conclusionsThe findings provide health administrators and health providers with explorative insights into the impact of the COVID-19 on social relationships and mental health among older adults living alone and can guide further studies of interventions considering specific properties of social relationships.
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