Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health?

Thomas Prohaska; Vanessa Burholt; Annette Burns; Jeannette Golden; Louise Hawkley; Brian Lawlor; Gerard Leavey; Jim Lubben; Roger O'Sullivan; Carla Perissinotto; Theo van Tilburg; Mark Tully; Christina Victor; Linda Fried

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034967

Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health?

Thomas Prohaska, Vanessa Burholt, Annette Burns, Jeannette Golden, Louise Hawkley, Brian Lawlor, Gerard Leavey, Jim Lubben, Roger O'Sullivan, Carla Perissinotto, Theo van Tilburg, Mark Tully, Christina Victor, Linda Fried

School of Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

99 Citations (Scopus)

145 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this consensus statement is to determine the state of the field of loneliness among older people, highlighting key issues for researchers, policymakers and those designing services and interventions. METHODS: In December 2018, an international meeting on loneliness was held in Belfast with leaders from across the USA and Europe. A summary of the conclusions reached at this event is presented following a consensus-building exercise conducted both during this event after each presentation as well as after the event through the drafting, reviewing and agreement of this statement by all authors for over 6 months. RESULTS: This meeting resulted in an agreement to produce a consensus statement on key issues including definitions of loneliness, measurement, antecedents, consequences and interventions. DISCUSSION: There has been an exponential growth in research on loneliness among older adults. However, differing measurements and definitions of loneliness mean the incidence and prevalence, associated risk factors and health consequences are often conflicting or confusing especially for those developing policy and services.

Original language	English
Article number	e034967
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	BMJ Open
Volume	10
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034967
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 11 Aug 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Copyright:
This record is sourced from MEDLINE/PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

Keywords

geriatric medicine
old age psychiatry
public health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034967Licence: CC BY-NC

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Cite this

Prohaska, T., Burholt, V., Burns, A., Golden, J., Hawkley, L., Lawlor, B., Leavey, G., Lubben, J., O'Sullivan, R., Perissinotto, C., van Tilburg, T., Tully, M., Victor, C., & Fried, L. (2020). Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health? BMJ Open, 10(8), 1-6. Article e034967. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034967

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title = "Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health?",

abstract = "OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this consensus statement is to determine the state of the field of loneliness among older people, highlighting key issues for researchers, policymakers and those designing services and interventions. METHODS: In December 2018, an international meeting on loneliness was held in Belfast with leaders from across the USA and Europe. A summary of the conclusions reached at this event is presented following a consensus-building exercise conducted both during this event after each presentation as well as after the event through the drafting, reviewing and agreement of this statement by all authors for over 6 months. RESULTS: This meeting resulted in an agreement to produce a consensus statement on key issues including definitions of loneliness, measurement, antecedents, consequences and interventions. DISCUSSION: There has been an exponential growth in research on loneliness among older adults. However, differing measurements and definitions of loneliness mean the incidence and prevalence, associated risk factors and health consequences are often conflicting or confusing especially for those developing policy and services.",

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AU - Lawlor, Brian

AU - Leavey, Gerard

AU - Lubben, Jim

AU - O'Sullivan, Roger

AU - Perissinotto, Carla

AU - van Tilburg, Theo

AU - Tully, Mark

AU - Victor, Christina

AU - Fried, Linda

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Copyright: This record is sourced from MEDLINE/PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

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N2 - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this consensus statement is to determine the state of the field of loneliness among older people, highlighting key issues for researchers, policymakers and those designing services and interventions. METHODS: In December 2018, an international meeting on loneliness was held in Belfast with leaders from across the USA and Europe. A summary of the conclusions reached at this event is presented following a consensus-building exercise conducted both during this event after each presentation as well as after the event through the drafting, reviewing and agreement of this statement by all authors for over 6 months. RESULTS: This meeting resulted in an agreement to produce a consensus statement on key issues including definitions of loneliness, measurement, antecedents, consequences and interventions. DISCUSSION: There has been an exponential growth in research on loneliness among older adults. However, differing measurements and definitions of loneliness mean the incidence and prevalence, associated risk factors and health consequences are often conflicting or confusing especially for those developing policy and services.

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Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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