ArticleBMC geriatrics2023
Gender-specific association of loneliness and health care use in community-dwelling older adults.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loneliness, social isolation, and health-related quality of life in older adults.European journal of ageing · 2026Article
- Loneliness as a predictor of self-rated health: a gendered, cross-national analysis in six European countries.Frontiers in sociology · 2026Article
- How loneliness mediates the association between migration status and health trajectories: Longitudinal evidence from Germany.Journal of migration and health · 2026Article
- Associations of social isolation and loneliness with healthcare utilization among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Innovation in aging · 2026Review
- Personal online social networks as moderators of the association between loneliness and quality of life in Polish adults aged 50.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Correlates of annual health check-up among community-dwelling persons 60 years and older: Longitudinal national evidence from the health, aging, and retirement in Thailand study, 2015-2022.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Validation study of the Croatian version of the Three-Item Loneliness Scale and its association to social network indices.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- "Loneliness is a sad disease": oldest old adults' empirical definition of loneliness and social isolation from a mixed-method study in Northern Italy.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Article
- Loneliness and Frailty Among Older Adults Receiving Home Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- Social Isolation and Hospitalization in Community-Dwelling Older Adults by Dementia Status.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Observational
- Association between Levels of Loneliness, Laboratory Measurements, and Behavioral Aspects in a Primary Care Setting in Crete, Greece.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
- Loneliness and social isolation: exploring the experiences of older women during the pandemic in terms of social connection, feeling of loneliness, and the impact on mental health and wellbeing.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
- Loneliness Among Older Adults Receiving Long-Term Home Care Services: A Quantitative Study.SAGE open nursingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLoneliness in older adults is common, particularly in women. In this article, gender differences in the association of loneliness and health care use are investigated in a large sample of community-dwelling older adults.
methodsData of 2525 persons (ages 55-85 years)-participants of the fourth follow- up (2011-2014) of the ESTHER study- were analyzed. Loneliness and health care use were assessed by study doctors in the course of a home visit. Gender-specific regression models with Gamma-distribution were performed using loneliness as independent variable to predict outpatient health care use, adjusted for demographic variables.
resultsIn older women, lonely persons were shown to have significantly more visits to general practitioners and mental health care providers in a three-month period compared to less lonely persons (p = .005). The survey found that outpatient health care use was positively associated with loneliness, multimorbidity, and mental illness in older women but not in older men. Older men had significantly more contact with inpatient care in comparison to women (p = .02).
conclusionsIt is important to consider gender when analyzing inpatient and outpatient health care use in older persons. In older women loneliness is associated with increased use of outpatient services.
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