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Prevalence of loneliness over ten years among the oldest old
Fredrica Nyqvist1, Mima Cattan2, Mia Conradsson3
11 Åbo Akademi University, Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Social Policy, Vaasa, Finland.
Aims:
This study examined the prevalence of loneliness among the oldest old within a 10-year period and studied the influence of various sociodemographic, social and health characteristics on loneliness.
Methods:
The study used population-based data from the Umeå85+/GErontological Regional DAtabase-study (GERDA) for the years 2000-2002, 2005-2007 and 2010-2012 including 85-year-old, 90-year-old and ⩾95-year-old participants. A final sample of 304 participants in 2000-2002, 329 participants in 2005-2007 and 401 participants in 2010-2012 was included in the analyses.
Results:
Although the level of loneliness was already high in 2000-2002 (49.3% reported frequent loneliness), the results showed limited changes in loneliness during the 10-year study period. Loneliness was closely related to living alone, depressive symptoms and living in institutional settings.
Conclusions:
Although societal changes such as solitary living and growing urbanization suggest a changing trend in loneliness, we found that the prevalence of loneliness was relatively stable in this study. Nevertheless, loneliness is common among the oldest old and a focus on social issues related to living arrangements and on depressive symptoms is important in understanding loneliness.