{"title":"Loneliness among older adults in Europe: time to integrate health and social care.","authors":"Livio Garattini, Alessandro Nobili, Pier Mannuccio Mannucci","doi":"10.1007/s11739-025-03924-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Loneliness is a major concern for public health in contemporary societies. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to loneliness because of their reduced social connections following life changes, such as retirement. Loneliness is often investigated and discussed together with social isolation. While social isolation implies an actual lack of social connections, loneliness implies a perceived deficit of social relations regardless of the real amount of social contacts. However, since living alone may lead to loneliness, individuals can experience both loneliness and social isolation together. Loneliness is not an inevitable consequence of aging and can be tackled with various interventions that can be classified into individual- and group-based formats and can be conducted either in-person or online. In terms of contents, interventions for lonely older adults vary widely, from psychological therapies to contacts with nature and pet company. Although many lonely patients are seen in primary care settings, they are often hospitalized through emergency departments. Social prescriptions, which are more and more perceived as an important add-on to clinical treatments, are non-medical interventions designed to help patients to improve their health by linking traditional clinical practice with social activities and support services within the community. Health- and social-integrated care in the community has become a major priority among older adults to ensure their continuity and quality of care. A European model for welfare systems should be framed by a full integration of care across health and social services. Investing in integrated community care should improve the broad efficiency of the European welfare systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":13662,"journal":{"name":"Internal and Emergency Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Internal and Emergency Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-025-03924-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Loneliness is a major concern for public health in contemporary societies. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to loneliness because of their reduced social connections following life changes, such as retirement. Loneliness is often investigated and discussed together with social isolation. While social isolation implies an actual lack of social connections, loneliness implies a perceived deficit of social relations regardless of the real amount of social contacts. However, since living alone may lead to loneliness, individuals can experience both loneliness and social isolation together. Loneliness is not an inevitable consequence of aging and can be tackled with various interventions that can be classified into individual- and group-based formats and can be conducted either in-person or online. In terms of contents, interventions for lonely older adults vary widely, from psychological therapies to contacts with nature and pet company. Although many lonely patients are seen in primary care settings, they are often hospitalized through emergency departments. Social prescriptions, which are more and more perceived as an important add-on to clinical treatments, are non-medical interventions designed to help patients to improve their health by linking traditional clinical practice with social activities and support services within the community. Health- and social-integrated care in the community has become a major priority among older adults to ensure their continuity and quality of care. A European model for welfare systems should be framed by a full integration of care across health and social services. Investing in integrated community care should improve the broad efficiency of the European welfare systems.
期刊介绍:
Internal and Emergency Medicine (IEM) is an independent, international, English-language, peer-reviewed journal designed for internists and emergency physicians. IEM publishes a variety of manuscript types including Original investigations, Review articles, Letters to the Editor, Editorials and Commentaries. Occasionally IEM accepts unsolicited Reviews, Commentaries or Editorials. The journal is divided into three sections, i.e., Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment, with three separate editorial boards. In the Internal Medicine section, invited Case records and Physical examinations, devoted to underlining the role of a clinical approach in selected clinical cases, are also published. The Emergency Medicine section will include a Morbidity and Mortality Report and an Airway Forum concerning the management of difficult airway problems. As far as Critical Care is becoming an integral part of Emergency Medicine, a new sub-section will report the literature that concerns the interface not only for the care of the critical patient in the Emergency Department, but also in the Intensive Care Unit. Finally, in the Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment section brief discussions of topics of evidence-based medicine (Cochrane’s corner) and Research updates are published. IEM encourages letters of rebuttal and criticism of published articles. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to the science and practice of Internal and Emergency Medicine.