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Complex association of self-rated health, depression, functional ability with loneliness in rural community-dwelling older people
Cao, Wenwen Cao, Chenglin Ren, Bohua Yang, Jing Hu, Zhi Bai, Zhongliang
Cao, Wenwen
Cao, Chenglin
Ren, Bohua
Yang, Jing
Hu, Zhi
Bai, Zhongliang
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2023-05-04
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Abstract
Background: This study aimed to explore whether and how self-rated health, depression and functional ability interactively associated with loneliness using a sample group of older adults residing in China rural communities. Methods: Data on socio-demographic information, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, functional ability and loneliness (quantified via a single question) were collected from 1009 participants. Cross-tabulations with chi-square test, bivariate correlations, and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) models were employed for analysis. Results: We found that 45.1% of the participants were classified as lonely. Our results gain insight into the hierarchical order of predictors for the presence of loneliness, suggesting that there was a significant interaction between functional ability and depressive symptoms while self-rated health was not a significant factor. The probability of loneliness increased with the combination of limited functional ability and depression, and varied with different interaction of functional ability, depressive symptoms, and marital status, respectively. Notably, while there were some differences, similar associations were observed among older male and female respondents. Conclusion: To delay or reduce loneliness, early detection which focuses on older people who report limitations in functional ability, depression, and being female, offers opportunities to start early interventions. Our findings might be helpful not only in designing and implementing loneliness prevention programs but also in improving healthcare for older rural community-dwelling people.
Citation
Cao, W., Cao, C., Ren, B. et al. (2023) Complex association of self-rated health, depression, functional ability with loneliness in rural community-dwelling older people. BMC Geriatrics, 23, 267. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-03965-4
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PubMed ID
37142945 (pubmed)
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Journal article
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en
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© 2023 The Authors. Published by BioMed Central (Springer). This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-03965-4
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ISSN
1471-2318
EISSN
1471-2318
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71573002), the Special Research Project in Science and Technology Department of Anhui Province (No. 202106f01050045), the Key Project of Social Science in Education Department of Anhui Province (No. SK2021A0164), Research fund of Anhui Medical University (No. 2021xkjT049), Open Program of Health Policy Research Center of Anhui Medical University (No. 2022wszc19) and China Scholarship Council (No. 202209095002).
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Licence for published version: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International