Gerst-Emerson Kerstin, Jayawardhana Jayani
Kerstin Gerst-Emerson and Jayani Jayawardhana are with the Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Georgia, Athens. Kerstin Gerst-Emerson is also with the Institute of Gerontology, University of Georgia.
Am J Public Health. 2015 May;105(5):1013-9. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302427. Epub 2015 Mar 19.
We aimed to determine whether loneliness is associated with higher health care utilization among older adults in the United States.
We used panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (2008 and 2012) to examine the long-term impact of loneliness on health care use. The sample was limited to community-dwelling persons in the United States aged 60 years and older. We used negative binomial regression models to determine the impact of loneliness on physician visits and hospitalizations.
Under 2 definitions of loneliness, we found that a sizable proportion of those aged 60 years and older in the United States reported loneliness. Regression results showed that chronic loneliness (those lonely both in 2008 and 4 years later) was significantly and positively associated with physician visits (β = 0.075, SE = 0.034). Loneliness was not significantly associated with hospitalizations.
Loneliness is a significant public health concern among elders. In addition to easing a potential source of suffering, the identification and targeting of interventions for lonely elders may significantly decrease physician visits and health care costs.
我们旨在确定在美国老年人中，孤独感是否与更高的医疗保健利用率相关。
我们使用了健康与退休研究（2008年和2012年）的面板数据，以检验孤独感对医疗保健使用的长期影响。样本仅限于美国60岁及以上的社区居住者。我们使用负二项回归模型来确定孤独感对就诊和住院的影响。
在孤独感的两种定义下，我们发现美国相当一部分60岁及以上的人报告有孤独感。回归结果显示，慢性孤独（2008年和4年后都感到孤独的人）与就诊显著正相关（β = 0.075，标准误 = 0.034）。孤独感与住院没有显著关联。
孤独感是老年人中一个重大的公共卫生问题。除了减轻潜在的痛苦来源外，识别并针对孤独的老年人进行干预可能会显著减少就诊次数和医疗保健成本。
