Loneliness during the covid-19 pandemic and the effect on psychosocial factors and health outcomes

Abstract Loneliness and social isolation have harmful impacts on health and well-being; thus, the social distancing mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, meant to protect our most vulnerable populations including older adults, may have had unintended consequences. The current study aimed to assess changes in loneliness (prior to and during the pandemic) and its impact on outcomes such as perceived stress, resilience, purpose in life, quality of life and health outcomes. An annual survey on healthy aging was mailed to a randomly selected national sample (age >65 years) in 2018/2019. Respondents completed the survey again in 2020 (N=3,564) to measure the impact of COVID-19. Measures included well-being and various psychosocial factors. Health care claims data were also used to derive diagnoses for health conditions. Respondents were 52% female and 44% between 65-74 years old. Loneliness symptoms increased for one-fifth of the sample during the pandemic. Respondents lonely at both time 1 and time 2 had lower resilience, purpose in life, and quality of life and higher perceived stress compared to those only lonely at one time point or not lonely. Respondents lonely at both time points had higher rates of health conditions compared to non-lonely respondents. In conclusion, older adults experienced increased levels of loneliness during COVID-19. Those with chronic loneliness had worse outcomes than those who were not lonely or inconsistently lonely and they exhibit lower resilience and purpose and higher stress and health complications. These findings suggest that timing and early intervention for loneliness is important for older adults.