Factors associated with loneliness among individuals aged 80 years and over: findings derived from the nationally representative "Old Age in Germany (D80+)" study
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OBJECTIVES: To clarify the factors associated with loneliness in individuals aged 80 years and older in Germany (also stratified by sex). METHODS: Data from the nationally representative "Old Age in Germany (D80+)" were employed. The analytic sample equaled 10,031 individuals. The D80+ study included community-dwelling and institutionalized individuals ≥ 80 years in Germany. Multiple linear regressions were used (with sociodemographic and health-related explanatory factors). The collection of data occurred between November 2020 and April 2021 (written questionnaire). RESULTS: Higher loneliness was significantly associated with not being married (e.g., widowed compared to being married, β=0.37, p<.001), being institutionalized (β=0.33, p<.001), low education (high education compared to low education, β=-0.07, p<.01), a higher number of chronic conditions (β=0.02, p<.001), poor self-rated health (β=-0.19, p<.001) and greater functional impairment (β=0.15, p<.001). Sex-stratified regressions produced comparable results. However, low education was only associated with higher loneliness among men, but not women (with significant interaction: education x sex). CONCLUSION: Several sociodemographic and health-related factors can contribute to loneliness among the oldest old in Germany, with sex-specific associations between education and loneliness. Overall, such knowledge can aid to address individuals with higher loneliness levels.
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Correlates of loneliness in the oldest-old have not been extensively studied.
“Nevertheless, the correlations of loneliness in the oldest-old have not been extensively studied, and all of these studies were conducted in high-income countries (Germany: [10,11]; Australia: [4]; Sweden/ Finland: [18,27]) or high-income context, Shanghai, China [36]”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Individuals 80 years and older are expected to experience increased adverse health outcomes, including multimorbidity, sensory loss, frailty, functional disability, and cognitive and social decline, all of which may increase loneliness.
“individuals 80 years and older are expected to experience increased adverse health outcomes, including multimorbidity, sensory loss, frailty, functional disability, and cognitive and social decline, all of which may increase loneliness [11].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Among the oldest-old, social factors associated with loneliness include living alone, being institutionalised, having a small social network size, lower family functioning, reduced chatting with neighbours, and not using social media on the internet.
“Social factors associated with loneliness among the oldest old included living alone [4,18,27,36], institutionalised [11,27], having a small social network size [10], lower family functioning [36], reduced chatting with neighbours [36], and not using social media on the internet [30].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
No significant age differences in loneliness were found among the oldest-old.
“we did not find significant age differences in relation to loneliness among the oldestold.”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Among four health-related factors (chronic conditions, functional disability, depression, and self-rated physical health), only functional disability was associated with higher loneliness in this study.
“While some previous studies [4,10,11,18,36] found that four healthrelated factors (chronic conditions, functional disability, depression, and self-rated physical health) were associated with higher loneliness, this study only found an association with functional disability.”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Studies of loneliness in the oldest-old have been conducted in high-income countries or high-income contexts.
“all of these studies were conducted in high-income countries (Germany: [10,11]; Australia: [4]; Sweden/ Finland: [18,27]) or high-income context, Shanghai, China [36]”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
The mean loneliness score in this study was higher than among community-dwelling oldest-old in Germany (1.6) and in a previous study among community-dwelling and institutionalised oldest-old in one state in Germany (1.3).
“which was higher than among community dwelling oldest-old in Germany 1.6 (0.7) [11] and in a previous study among community-dwelling and institutionalised (5.1%) oldest-old in one state in Germany 1.3 (0.6) [8].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
This study did not find significant associations between education, caste, economic status, residence status, and loneliness.
“this study did not find significant associations between education, caste, economic status, residence status, and loneliness”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Among the oldest-old, sociodemographic factors associated with loneliness include not being married and lower education.
“Among the oldest-old sociodemographic factors associated with loneliness included not being married [4,11] and lower education [11].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Among the oldest-old, health-related factors associated with loneliness include functional disability, multimorbidity, poor self-rated health, and depressive symptoms.
“Health-related factors associated with loneliness among the oldest-old included functional disability [4,11], multimorbidity [11], poor self-rated health [10,11,36], and depressive symptoms [10,18].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
Other studies among the oldest-old did not find significant gender differences, including in Shanghai, Germany, and Sweden/Finland.
“Similarly, other studies among the oldest-old did not find significant gender differences, including in Shanghai [36], Germany [8,10,11], and Sweden/Finland [18,27].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
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- Authors
- Hajek, A., Gyasi, R. M., & König, H.-H.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- African Population and Health Research Center (KE)
- Corresponding author
- Hajek, André
- Venue
- Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-08
- Volume
- 123
- Pages
- 105443
- ISSN
- 0167-4943 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4394689361
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 10.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Keywords
- loneliness, oldest old, aged 80 and over, marital status, institutionalization, low educational attainment, chronic disease, self-rated health, functional disability, sex differences, sociodemographic factors, health factors, community-dwelling older adults
- MeSH terms
- Aged, 80 and over, Educational Status, Female, Germany, Humans, Institutionalization, Loneliness, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Independent Living
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