The Long Loneliness of Primary Care

In recent years there has been heightened interest in the linkages between loneliness, social isolation, and health. A highly cited meta-analysis determined that social isolation, loneliness, and living alone increased the risk of premature death by an order of magnitude that was comparable to the well-recognized risk factors of smoking and obesity.1 In addition, a data analysis from the Health and Retirement Study reported that loneliness was significantly associated with increased physician visits, but not hospitalizations, in community-dwelling older adults.