Leahy Nicholas, Rallo Melissa, Pedersen Lillianna, Wan Christine, Konduru Hima, Bailey Shania, Vetack Alexis, Mora Wendel, Gupta Shailvi, Guzmán Carlos Faerron
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Centro Interamericano para la Salud Global (CISG), Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Ann Glob Health. 2024 Dec 30;90(1):83. doi: 10.5334/aogh.4586. eCollection 2024.
As trends in life expectancy continue to improve, the burden of loneliness in geriatric populations on a global scale is increasing. With advancing age comes an increase in the number of life events that can perpetuate a state of loneliness such as losing a life partner, dwindling social networks, and deteriorating health conditions. This burden can manifest in a variety of mental and physical consequences. While loneliness has been studied in a few communities around the world, there is a need to study loneliness in the context of Latin American communities in Central America, including Costa Rica. The aim of the present study is to assess the prevalence and associated factors of social and emotional loneliness (SEL) in a sample of elderly patients in the canton of Coto Brus, Costa Rica. A cross‑sectional study was conducted that sampled 63 adults aged 65 years or above in the canton of Coto Brus. Investigators conducted face‑to‑face interviews in Spanish with the aid of translators. The primary instruments used for the present study were a content‑validated version of the 11‑item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale and socio‑demographic questions that included age, sex, address, civil status, and level of education. A high degree of SEL was found, with 60.3% of participants noting at least a moderate degree of loneliness, with the average score being 3.33 on the 11‑point scale. When SEL was broken up into its respective subscores, the average score for social loneliness (SL) was found to be 0.67 on the 5‑point scale, and the average score for emotional loneliness (EL) was found to be 2.67 on the 6‑point scale. There was also evidence that supports both level of education and marital status serving as protective factors in the development of SEL. These results could indicate a stronger association of loneliness being linked to missing a life partner compared with loneliness being linked to having smaller social networks. Given the associations that were found in this preliminary study, it is pivotal to explore loneliness in this community with a larger sample size-potentially through the integration of the country's Equipos Básicos de Atención Integral de Salud (EBAIS) healthcare system. It is also crucial to expand the study to explore any associations between loneliness and comorbid mental and physical health conditions.
随着预期寿命的趋势持续改善，全球老年人口中的孤独负担正在增加。随着年龄的增长，导致孤独状态持续存在的生活事件数量也会增加，比如失去生活伴侣、社交网络缩小以及健康状况恶化。这种负担会表现为各种心理和生理后果。虽然世界各地的一些社区已经对孤独进行了研究，但有必要在中美洲的拉丁裔社区背景下，包括在哥斯达黎加，研究孤独问题。本研究的目的是评估哥斯达黎加科托布鲁斯县老年患者样本中社交和情感孤独（SEL）的患病率及相关因素。开展了一项横断面研究，对科托布鲁斯县63名65岁及以上的成年人进行了抽样。研究人员在翻译人员的协助下用西班牙语进行面对面访谈。本研究使用的主要工具是经过内容验证的11项德容·吉尔维尔德孤独量表以及包括年龄、性别、住址、婚姻状况和教育程度在内的社会人口学问题。研究发现SEL程度较高，60.3%的参与者表示至少有中度孤独感，在11分制量表上的平均得分为3.33分。当将SEL分解为各自的子分数时，发现社交孤独（SL）在5分制量表上的平均得分为0.67分，情感孤独（EL）在6分制量表上的平均得分为2.67分。也有证据支持教育程度和婚姻状况在SEL发展过程中作为保护因素。这些结果可能表明，与因社交网络较小导致的孤独相比，孤独与失去生活伴侣的关联更强。鉴于在这项初步研究中发现的关联，至关重要的是通过整合该国的基本综合卫生保健团队（EBAIS）医疗系统，以更大的样本量来探索该社区的孤独问题。扩大研究范围以探索孤独与合并的身心健康状况之间的任何关联也至关重要。
