Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
BMJ Open. 2021 Mar 18;11(3):e042335. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042335.
The imperative for physical distancing (mostly referred to as social distancing) during COVID-19 pandemic may deteriorate physical and mental health. We aimed at summarising the strength of evidence in the published literature on the association of physical and mental health with social connection via social isolation, living alone and loneliness.
We conducted a systematic search in April 2020 to identify meta-analyses using the Medline, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases. The search strategy included terms of social isolation, loneliness, living alone and meta-analysis. Eligible meta-analyses needed to report any sort of association between an indicator of social connection and any physical or mental health outcome. The findings were summarised in a narrative synthesis.
Twenty-five meta-analyses met our criteria, of which 10 focused on physical health and 15 on mental health outcomes. The results suggest that lack of social connection is associated with chronic physical symptoms, frailty, coronary heart disease, malnutrition, hospital readmission, reduced vaccine uptake, early mortality, depression, social anxiety, psychosis, cognitive impairment in later life and suicidal ideation.
The existing evidence clearly indicates that social connection is associated with a range of poor physical and mental health outcomes. A potential negative impact on these outcomes needs to be considered in future decisions on physical distancing measures.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，保持身体距离（主要是指社交距离）是必要的，但这可能会损害身心健康。我们旨在总结已发表文献中关于身体和心理健康与社会隔离、独居和孤独通过社会联系之间关联的证据强度。
我们于 2020 年 4 月进行了系统检索，以确定使用 Medline、PsycINFO 和 Web of Science 数据库的荟萃分析。搜索策略包括社会隔离、孤独、独居和荟萃分析等术语。符合条件的荟萃分析需要报告社会联系指标与任何身体或心理健康结果之间的任何关联。研究结果以叙述性综合报告。
有 25 项荟萃分析符合我们的标准，其中 10 项关注身体健康，15 项关注心理健康结果。结果表明，缺乏社会联系与慢性身体症状、虚弱、冠心病、营养不良、住院再入院、疫苗接种率降低、早期死亡率、抑郁、社交焦虑、精神病、认知障碍在晚年和自杀意念有关。
现有证据清楚地表明，社会联系与一系列身体和心理健康不良结果有关。在未来关于身体距离措施的决策中，需要考虑这些措施对这些结果可能产生的负面影响。
