Chao Shiau-Fang, Hsu Hui-Chuan, Yen Chia-Le, Chen Bo-Yu
Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University, No 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Daan District, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan.
School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
BMC Geriatr. 2025 Jun 5;25(1):410. doi: 10.1186/s12877-025-06088-0.
This study combines a nationally representative sample from Taiwan with four years of National Health Insurance (NHI) data to explore the distinctive impact of emotional and social loneliness on health service utilization, including outpatient visits for mental health, general outpatient visits, emergency room (ER) visits, and hospitalization.
Data were drawn from the 2015 Taiwan Longitudinal Survey on Aging (TLSA) and merged with participants' NHI records from 2015 to 2018. The analysis used logistic regression for binary outcomes and negative binomial regression for counts.
Results show that higher emotional loneliness in 2015 was associated with increased outpatient mental health visits over time and more general outpatient visits within the same year. Conversely, higher social loneliness in 2015 reduced the likelihood of seeking ER care in 2015.
By merging national data and distinguishing emotional from social loneliness, this study offers insights into their differential impacts on healthcare utilization among older adults in Taiwan. It emphasizes the importance of addressing loneliness to improve physical and mental well-being and optimize the effective utilization of healthcare resources.
本研究将来自台湾的具有全国代表性的样本与四年的国民健康保险（NHI）数据相结合，以探讨情感孤独和社交孤独对医疗服务利用的独特影响，包括心理健康门诊就诊、普通门诊就诊、急诊室（ER）就诊和住院治疗。
数据取自2015年台湾老龄化纵向调查（TLSA），并与参与者2015年至2018年的NHI记录合并。分析使用二元结果的逻辑回归和计数的负二项回归。
结果显示，2015年较高的情感孤独感与随着时间推移心理健康门诊就诊次数增加以及同年更多的普通门诊就诊次数相关。相反，2015年较高的社交孤独感降低了2015年寻求急诊护理的可能性。
通过合并全国数据并区分情感孤独和社交孤独，本研究深入了解了它们对台湾老年人医疗保健利用的不同影响。它强调了解决孤独感以改善身心健康并优化医疗资源有效利用的重要性。
