Socially connected older adults had a larger drop in quality of life and life satisfaction, and increased feelings of loneliness, during the COVID-19 pandemic than their more isolated counterparts, a new study revealed.
In a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from University College London in the United Kingdom reviewed survey responses from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging from 4,636 older adults in England between 2018 and 2020. They compared changes in well-being, health, health behaviors, financial well-being and internet use between isolated and non-isolated participants.
Just less than a third (29%) of respondents were classified as socially isolated. Before the pandemic, this group had worse quality of life and life satisfaction and greater loneliness. But during 2020, their decline in those areas was less than their more socially connected peers.
Life satisfaction among socially isolated adults prior to the pandemic declined about half as much as during the pandemic. This meant that isolated older adults had similar life satisfaction during the pandemic as those who were more socially connected.
The researchers expected that older adults who already were isolated before the pandemic would be more vulnerable to the disruptions and restrictions. “In fact, our study suggests the opposite — that isolated older people were somewhat protected from the negative aspects of pandemic restriction, perhaps because they had less to lose in terms of social connections,” co-author Andrew Steptoe, PhD, a professor with the UCL Department of Behavioral Science & Health, said in a release issued earlier this month.
Research findings
Claryn Kung, PhD, lead author and a senior researcher at UCL Department of Behavioral Science & Health, said that socially connected older adults likely experienced a greater disruption in their routines. More isolated individuals, by contrast, may have experienced fewer changes in their daily lives, with their usual routines less prone to disruptions created by pandemic restrictions.
“Our findings highlight the need to care for isolated older adults, but also to be attentive in times of crises to the impact of major disruptions in social activity,” Kung said in a statement.
The researchers also found that isolated older adults experienced a greater decline in physical activity and smoking and were more likely to remain worried about their future finances compared with their more socially connected peers. Isolated adults also did not increase their likelihood of regular internet use during the pandemic, in contrast with their more socially connected peers.
Both groups showed no significant changes in self-reported health and sleep quality, similar increases in depression and anxiety, and a similar decrease in their expectations of future financial difficulties.
The researchers said their findings could help public health and preventive strategies to reduce isolation and its effects, including building age-friendly environment that facilitate in-person interactions, designing community-based initiatives that promote social engagement, and potentially providing information and communication technologies training to improve digital skills and attitudes, as well as subsidies to remove financial barriers to internet use.
Making a case for senior living
The results also might further bolster the argument for senior living, which held itself up as a way for older adults to strengthen social connections in the wake of US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, announcing last year a “National Strategy to Advance Social Connections” to address an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation.”
In addition, a 2022 report from the American Seniors Housing Association and ATI Advisory found that senior living communities reduced social isolation and improved quality of life during the pandemic through greater access to social, physical and intellectual wellness than their counterparts living in the greater community.
And in 2021, a survey from Activated Insights reported that just 20% of senior living residents reported feeling “severely lonely.” The survey also revealed a potential decline in loneliness among older adults in assisted living and other congregate living settings from before the pandemic.
The recently introduced Social Engagement and Network Initiatives for Older Relief (SENIOR) Act in the United States would add loneliness to the definition of disease prevention and health promotion services under the Older Americans Act. It also would require a federal report on the effects of loneliness on older adults.
The recently published research was supported by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Social Care Research, the Economic and Social Research Council and the US National Institute on Aging.
