University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Am J Med Sci. 2024 Jan;367(1):21-27. doi: 10.1016/j.amjms.2023.09.020. Epub 2023 Sep 26.
The impact of social isolation and loneliness (SIL) was heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic disproportionately affected racial/ ethnic minorities, no studies have investigated the ramifications of the pandemic on SIL among these populations. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and pervasiveness of SIL during the COVID-19 pandemic on minority communities.
This was a single center, cross sectional study conducted by scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) working in collaboration with members of the Rochester community. Adult patients presenting to the emergency department at URMC who identified themselves as belonging to minority communities were asked to complete a survey that comprised questions from the Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and questions from the Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool. We analyzed the percentage of SIL and conducted linear regression models to study the association between these outcomes and race/ ethnicity, age, gender, chronic disease status and the frequency of hospitalizations.
A total of 1,029 subjects completed the survey. Social isolation was reported by 375 (37%) persons. Those of Latinx ethnicity had higher prevalence of social isolation (41%) compared to those of Black/African American race (36%) and also had higher degrees of isolation (14.8%) (15.42; p = 0.07). Loneliness was documented by 215 (21%) for the cohort with no differences based on race or ethnicity.
Social isolation was common among minority communities during the pandemic but loneliness was less pervasive. The study highlights the need to address the specific needs of these populations.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，社会隔离和孤独感（SIL）的影响加剧了。尽管大流行对少数族裔/族裔的影响不成比例，但尚无研究调查大流行对这些人群中 SIL 的影响。本研究旨在确定 COVID-19 大流行期间少数族裔社区中 SIL 的流行率和普遍性。
这是一项由罗切斯特大学医学中心（URMC）的科学家与罗切斯特社区成员合作进行的单中心、横断面研究。向在 URMC 急诊科就诊并自认为属于少数族裔社区的成年患者询问了一项调查，该调查包括来自 Lubben 社会网络量表-6 的问题和结束孤独感测量工具的问题。我们分析了 SIL 的百分比，并进行了线性回归模型，以研究这些结果与种族/族裔、年龄、性别、慢性疾病状况和住院频率之间的关联。
共有 1029 名受试者完成了调查。375 人（37%）报告社会隔离。拉丁裔人群的社会隔离患病率较高（41%），而黑人和非裔美国人（36%）的社会隔离患病率较高，且隔离程度也较高（14.8%）（15.42；p=0.07）。该队列中记录到 215 人（21%）感到孤独，种族或族裔之间没有差异。
在大流行期间，少数族裔社区中社会隔离很常见，但孤独感却不那么普遍。该研究强调了需要满足这些人群的特殊需求。
