Differential impact of loneliness patterns on health status in old age. a longitudinal study.

Introduction: Loneliness is related to worse health status outcome. Objectives: The present study aims to identify how longitudinal patterns of loneliness associated with health in old age. Methods: A total of 1,287 individuals aged 50+ were interviewed in 2011-12, 2014-15 and 2017-18 in a follow-up study conducted over a nationally representative sample of Spain. The three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to assess loneliness. Chronic loneliness was defined as the presence of loneliness in the three measurements, whereas transient loneliness expressed the presence of these feelings only at one period of study. Health status was measured with self-reported questions regarding ten domains (vision, mobility, and self-care, among others), and seven measured tests (including grip strength, walking speed and immediate and delayed verbal recall). A multilevel linear regression was used to examine association between loneliness patterns and health over time. Results: Almost a-ten percent of participants reported feeling lonely throughout the three waves, who showed the worst health status. Both the group of chronic and transient loneliness showed a negative significant relationship with health status at follow-up, (ß = -6.2, p<0.001 and ß = -2.50, p = 0.02, respectively). Nevertheless, a significant change in the relationship between loneliness pattern and health status was not observed across time. Conclusions: Loneliness was longitudinally associated with poorer health, although health status of each loneliness pattern did not worsen over time. Different patterns of loneliness could benefit from the appropriate interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]