Social Isolation and Loneliness among Near-Centenarians and Centenarians: Results from the Fordham Centenarian Study.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional observational study
PubMed 35627476 · doi:10.3390/ijerph19105940
What was done
Analyzed cross-sectional data from 94 individuals aged 95 to 107 years from the Fordham Centenarian Study. Participants were classified into a four-group typology combining social isolation and loneliness status. Multinomial logistic regression models were evaluated to assess associations with demographic, socioeconomic, social, health, care, and psychological characteristics.
What was found
Participants were distributed across four groups: 29.8% were isolated and lonely, 28.7% were neither isolated nor lonely, 21.3% were isolated but not lonely, and 20.2% were lonely but not isolated. Likelihood of group membership varied by education, health, and personality; exact odds ratios and confidence intervals were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
Demonstrates that social isolation and loneliness are distinct, often uncoupled conditions in the oldest-old, indicating that interventions must distinguish objective isolation from subjective loneliness.
Limits
Small sample size (n = 94), cross-sectional design precluding causal inference, single-study cohort, and lack of numeric regression estimates or confidence intervals in the abstract.
Cited by
- contradicts Centenarian studies consistently find that high levels of social connection and community engagement are among the most common characteristics of people who live to 100.