Association between time-varying loneliness and health and social care utilisation
| Home help | Community nurse | Meals on wheels | Day centre | Hospital visits | Time since last saw a GP | |
| IRR (95% CI) | IRR (95% CI) | IRR (95% CI) | IRR (95% CI) | IRR (95% CI) | Beta (95% CI) | |
| Time | 1.0 (0.4 to 2.5) | 2.3 (0.9 to 5.8) | 1.0 (0.4 to 2.6) | 1.4 (0.4 to 4.9) | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.6) | 0.1 (−0.3 to 0.5) |
| Loneliness | ||||||
| Slightly lonely | 1.2 (0.5 to 2.9) | 0.8 (0.3 to 2.6) | 1.6 (0.6 to 3.8) | 1.7 (0.5 to 5.5) | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.1) | 0.3 (−0.6 to 0.1) |
| Lonely | 2.0 (0.8 to 4.9) | 3.4 (1.4 to 8.7) | 2.5 (1.1 to 5.6) | 1.4 (0.4 to 5.3) | 1.5 (0.9 to 2.4) | 0.2 (−0.5 to 0.1) |
| Age | ||||||
| 85–89 | 0.5 (0.2 to 1.1) | 0.8 (0.3 to 1.9) | 1.0 (0.5 to 2.0) | 1.0 (0.4 to 2.5) | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.2) | 0.2 (−0.1 to 0.5) |
| 90+ | 0.9 (0.2 to 4.4) | 1.3 (0.4 to 4.7) | 0.6 (0.1 to 5.9) | 4.2 (0.3 to 51.7) | 1.0 (0.4 to 2.7) | 0.1 (−0.6 to 0.7) |
| Sex | ||||||
| Women | 1.2 (0.5 to 3.1) | 0.5 (0.2 to 1.5) | 0.8 (0.3 to 1.9) | 1.4 (0.5 to 4.0) | 0.6 (0.4 to 1.002) | 0.5 (−0.9 to 0.2) |
| Physical impairments | ||||||
| Moderate | 2.3 (0.9 to 5.7) | 1.9 (0.8 to 4.5) | 0.7 (0.2 to 2.0) | 4.0 (0.7 to 23.4) | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.1) | 0.1 (−0.5 to 0.2) |
| High | 4.1 (1.6 to 10.8) | 1.4 (0.4 to 4.5) | 1.9 (0.7 to 5.3) | 7.6 (1.2 to 48.7) | 2.3 (1.2 to 4.4) | 0.3 (−0.7 to 0.1) |
| Health condition | ||||||
| ≥3 | 1.5 (0.7 to 3.3) | 2.6 (1.2 to 5.5) | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.6) | 2.3 (0.6 to 8.7) | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.9) | 0.3 (−0.6 to 0.1) |
| Depression | ||||||
| Yes | 0.6 (0.2 to 1.6) | 0.5 (0.2 to 1.5) | 0.5 (0.2 to 1.7) | 0.3 (0.1 to 1.1) | 1.1 (0.5 to 2.1) | 0.4 (−0.8 to 0.03) |
| Physical functioning | ||||||
| IADL disability only | 2.1 (0.8 to 5.6) | 0.9 (0.3 to 2.7) | 0.8 (0.2 to 2.6) | 2.7 (0.9 to 8.5) | 0.7 (0.4 to 1.3) | 0.3 (−0.7 to 0.1) |
| IADL and ADL disabilities | 2.3 (0.8 to 6.3) | 1.0 (0.4 to 2.5) | 1.5 (0.5 to 4.5) | 2.1 (0.7 to 6.7) | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.7) | 0.2 (−0.1 to 0.5) |
| Cognition | 0.9 (0.8 to 1.0) | 0.9 (0.8 to 1.0) | 0.9 (0.8 to 1.1) | 1.1 (0.9 to 1.2) | 1.0 (0.9 to 1.1) | 0.05 (−0.1 to 0.0003) |
Reference groups: not lonely, 80–84 years old, men, no physical impairments, 0–2 chronic diseases, not depressed and not disabled.
Bold values indicate 95% confidence intervals.
ADL, activities of daily living; IADL, instrumental ADL; IRR, incidence rate ratio .