SynthesisEpidemiology and psychiatric sciences2025
Prevalence of loneliness and social isolation amongst individuals with severe mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Social inclusion inequalities between individuals with mental disorders and the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Social Health Among Individuals Living with Mental Illness During the Transition To Permanent Supportive Housing: A Scoping Review.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- "I need to talk, to talk to people": a qualitative study of service user and carer views and priorities for social functioning in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Social disconnection and psychotic-like experiences in the Slovak DISCONNECT epidemiological study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Unravelling longitudinal associations of social and emotional loneliness with social isolation and mental health outcomes: a cross-lagged panel network analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Therapeutic apartheid: a cross-sectional assessment of estimated cost, accessibility, affordability, and availability among psychotropic medications across 25 regions.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Resilient outcomes in people with a history of mental disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic: an international 2-years longitudinal prospective study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Toward a transdiagnostic modifier for clinically significant loneliness in psychiatry: a conceptual mini review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Why deinstitutionalisation still matters: Reclaiming a contested horizon in global mental health.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- From lifestyle psychiatry to whole person health: Evidence, dissemination, and scalable approaches.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Review
- Article
- Associations of Disability and Social Support with Cannabis Use Among Adults with Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms.Cannabis (Albuquerque, N.M.) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsA systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the prevalence and antecedents/outcomes of loneliness and social isolation among individuals with severe mental disorders (SMD), such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder.
methodsFive well-known electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science and Scopus) were searched (plus a hand search). Observational studies that report the prevalence and, if available, antecedents and consequences of loneliness/isolation among individuals with SMD were included. Key characteristics were extracted, and a meta-analysis was performed. Our systematic review was preregistered on PROSPERO (ID: CRD42024559043). The PRISMA guidelines were followed. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) standardized critical appraisal tool developed for prevalence studies was applied to assess the quality of the included studies.
resultsThe initial search yielded 4506 records, and after duplicate removal and screening, a total of 10 studies were finally included. The studies included used data from Europe, Asia, North America, and Oceania. Two studies employed a longitudinal design, while all other studies had a cross-sectional design. Most of the studies included between 100 and 500 individuals with SMD. All studies involved both male and female participants, with women typically comprising about 40% of the sample. The average age of participants often ranged from approximately 30 to 40 years. The estimated prevalence of loneliness was 59.1% (95% CI: 39.6% to 78.6%,
conclusionsThe present systematic review with meta-analysis identified high levels of loneliness and objective social isolation among those with SMD. These findings stress the importance of monitoring and addressing social needs in this vulnerable group, which may have a positive effect on the life quality of individuals with SMD. Future research in neglected regions (e.g. South America and Africa) is recommended. Different diagnoses within severe mental disorders should be distinguished in future studies. Furthermore, additional longitudinal studies are required to explore the antecedents and consequences of loneliness and social isolation among individuals with SMD.
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