A new survey suggested an alarming loneliness rate among middle-aged and older people in the United States.
According to Health Day, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Ageing found that more than one-third of senior Americans feel lonely and isolated.
The lead researcher, Dr. Preeti Malani, from the University of Michigan Medical School, explained in a press release, “At the surface, this might seem like great news, that we’re back to where we were before COVID-19 struck. But that baseline was not good, and it was especially bad for some groups of older adults, who continue to have very high rates of loneliness and social isolation.”
As per the poll results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 33% of adults ages 50 to 80 in 2024 compared to 34% in 2018, whereas the rate hit 42% during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 29% of older adults admitted that they felt isolation during 2024, slightly higher than 27% in 2018, while during the early months of the pandemic, 56% of older adults reported loneliness and isolation.
Poll director Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren said, “These trends make it clear: clinicians should see loneliness and isolation as a key factor in their patients’ lives, especially those with serious physical or mental health conditions.”
“We should consider screening our patients for these issues and connecting them with resources in their communities, whether that’s a senior centre, veterans’ groups, volunteering opportunities, or services offered by an Area Agency on Ageing or other community organisations,” he further added.
Furthermore, it was also found during the polls that middle-aged adults 50 to 64 felt more lonely or isolated than seniors 65 to 80.
