[Loneliness as a health issue: a new challenge for healthcare systems and nursing]

. Loneliness as a health issue: a new challenge for healthcare systems and nursing. Loneliness has long been considered mainly a psychological or social condition. However, growing scientific evidence has identified loneliness as a major health determinant associated with poorer clinical outcomes, increased healthcare utilization, reduced quality of life, and higher mortality. Demographic ageing, weakening social networks, chronic diseases, socioeconomic vulnerability, and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic have contributed to making loneliness a widespread public health issue affecting all age groups.The literature clearly distinguishes loneliness, a subjective perception of inadequate social relationships, from social isolation, an objective lack of social contacts. Chronic loneliness has been associated with depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, frailty, sleep disorders, and unhealthy behaviors. Its impact on health has been compared to traditional risk factors such as smoking and obesity.Healthcare systems are increasingly required to address loneliness through multidimensional assessment, continuity of care, community-based interventions, and social prescribing programs. Relational vulnerability should be considered an essential component of healthcare assessment, particularly among frail, elderly, chronically ill, and socially vulnerable individuals.Within this framework, nurses play a pivotal role because of their close and continuous contact with patients across hospital, community, home care, and long-term care settings. Addressing loneliness represents both a clinical and ethical challenge for contemporary healthcare systems and highlights the importance of integrating relational and social dimensions into care delivery.