This study examined the associations among loneliness, stressful life events, urinary cortisol levels, and immunocompetency. Blood and urine were obtained from 33 psychiatric inpatients on the day after admission, at which time the patients completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview Life Events Scale (PERI), and the MMPI. Patients who scored above the m...

BACKGROUND Pet ownership is thought to make a positive contribution to health, health behaviours and the general well-being of older people. More specifically pet ownership is often proposed as a solution to the problem of loneliness in later life and specific 'pet based' interventions have been developed to combat loneliness. However the evidence to support this relationship is slim and it is ...

BACKGROUND Depression and loneliness are prevalent and highly correlated phenomena among the elderly and influence both physical and mental health. Brain functional connectivity changes associated with depressive symptoms and loneliness are not fully understood. METHODS A cross-sectional functional MRI study was conducted among 85 non-demented male elders. Geriatric depression scale-short for...

OBJECTIVES To assess the relationship between various social isolation indicators and loneliness, and to examine the differential associations that social isolation indicators, loneliness have with depressive symptoms. METHODS Baseline data for 1,919 adults (aged 21 years and above) from a representative health survey in the Central region of Singapore was used for this study. The association...

BACKGROUND While loneliness has been regarded as a risk to mental and physical health, there is a lack of current community data covering a broad age range. This study used a large and representative German adult sample to investigate loneliness. METHODS Baseline data of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) collected between April 2007 and April 2012 (N = 15,010; 35-74 years), were analyzed. Recr...

Both social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased mortality, but it is uncertain whether their effects are independent or whether loneliness represents the emotional pathway through which social isolation impairs health. We therefore assessed the extent to which the association between social isolation and mortality is mediated by loneliness. We assessed social isolation in ter...