SynthesisFrontiers in public health2024
Interventions for loneliness in older adults: a systematic review of reviews.
Synthesis in Frontiers in public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of Technology-Based Interventions on the Reduction of Loneliness: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention versus a social contact control in alleviating loneliness among older adults: a randomised controlled trial.BMJ mental health · 2026Trial
- Impact of Social Connections on Well-Being of Older Adults: Relationships, Communities, and Systems of Support.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Oral Structural and Functional Impairment in Relation to Depressive Outcomes in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Addressing the silent epidemic: a narrative review and evidence synthesis of digital health and telehealth interventions for loneliness in older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2026Review
- Multicomponent program to alleviate loneliness in widowed women: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- The association between loneliness and quality of life in cancer survivors: All of Us research program.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Loneliness and emotional support helpline use in Spain: a 20-year observational study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Integrated arts engagement as preventive infrastructure for active and healthy aging: a conceptual and policy framework.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal bidirectional associations among sarcopenia risk, social isolation, and frailty in Chinese older adults using an item response theory-derived frailty index.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Perceived community exercise environment and loneliness among middle-aged and older adults in China: psychosocial-behavioral associations, latent profiles, and network analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- A culturally tailored Zhuang embroidery intervention for psychological well-being among Zhuang adults in the retirement transition in Guangxi: a waitlist-controlled quasi-experimental study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- An integrative review of loneliness and quality of life in older adults who lived alone during COVID-19: considerations for supporting reconnection.BMC geriatrics · 2025Review
- Predictive role of loneliness on mortality before the age 85 years among mid- to later-life adults in the United States: a 10-year retrospective cohort study.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2025Article
- AI Applications to Reduce Loneliness Among Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Effectiveness and Technologies.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Loneliness in older persons is a major risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Before the COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented isolation and hampered programs aimed at preventing or reducing loneliness, many interventions were developed and evaluated. However, previous reviews provide limited or conflicting summaries of intervention effectiveness. This systematic review aimed to assess previous review quality and bias, as well as to summarize key findings into an overarching narrative on intervention efficacy. The authors searched nine electronic databases and indices to identify systematic reviews of interventions to reduce loneliness in older people prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; 6,925 records were found initially. Of these, 19 reviews met inclusion criteria; these encompassed 101 unique primary intervention studies that varied in research design, sample size, intervention setting, and measures of loneliness across 21 nations. While 42% of reviews had minimal risk of bias, only 8% of primary studies appraised similarly. Among the 101 unique articles reviewed, 63% of tested interventions were deemed by article author(s) as effective or partially effective. Generally, interventions that included animals, psychological therapies, and skill-building activities were more successful than interventions focused on social facilitation or health promotion. However, interventions that targeted multiple objectives aimed at reducing loneliness (e.g., improving social skills, enhancing social support, increasing social opportunities, and changing maladaptive social cognition) were more effective than single-objective interventions. Future programs should incorporate multiple approaches, and these interventions should be rigorously tested.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.