Longitudinal Associations between Living Alone and Mental Health and Mortality in Ageing Adults in South Africa

IF 1.1 Q4 GERONTOLOGY

Ageing International Pub Date : 2025-10-18 DOI:10.1007/s12126-025-09632-w

Supa Pengpid, Karl Peltzer

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal associations between living alone and eight mental health indicators and mortality in ageing adults from 2015 to 2022 in rural South Africa. The analysis utilized data from the South African 7-year longitudinal Health and Ageing in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) (analytic sample: n = 3,707, aged 40 years and older). The proportion of living alone was 9.3% in 2015, 10.6% in 2019 and 12.0% in 2022. In the adjusted model, living alone was positively associated depressive symptoms, loneliness, impaired cognition, current tobacco use, and mortality. Compared to not living alone in all three study waves, living alone in one wave and/or two to three waves was positively associated with incident loneliness, incident current tobacco use, and incident current heavy alcohol use. Living alone was positively associated with the prevalence and/or incidence of depressive symptoms, loneliness, impaired cognition, current tobacco use, current heavy alcohol use and mortality. Enhanced screening and management of living alone may reduce mental ill-health in South Africa.

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南非老年人独居与心理健康和死亡率之间的纵向关联

本研究的目的是评估2015年至2022年南非农村老年人独居与八项心理健康指标和死亡率之间的纵向关联。该分析利用了南非7年纵向非洲健康与老龄化：南非INDEPTH社区纵向研究（HAALSI）的数据（分析样本：n = 3,707，年龄在40岁及以上）。2015年独居人口比例为9.3%，2019年为10.6%，2022年为12.0%。在调整后的模型中，独居与抑郁症状、孤独感、认知障碍、当前吸烟和死亡率呈正相关。与在所有三个研究波中都不独居相比，在一个波和/或两到三个波中独居与偶然的孤独感、偶然的当前烟草使用和偶然的当前大量酒精使用呈正相关。独居与抑郁症状、孤独、认知受损、当前吸烟、当前大量饮酒和死亡率的患病率和/或发生率呈正相关。在南非，加强对独居者的筛查和管理可能会减少精神疾病。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ageing International GERONTOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： As a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that has existed for over three decades, Ageing International serves all professionals who deal with complex ageing issues. The journal is dedicated to improving the life of ageing populations worldwide through providing an intellectual forum for communicating common concerns, exchanging analyses and discoveries in scientific research, crystallizing significant issues, and offering recommendations in ageing-related service delivery and policy making. Besides encouraging the submission of high-quality research and review papers, Ageing International seeks to bring together researchers, policy analysts, and service program administrators who are committed to reducing the ''implementation gap'' between good science and effective service, between evidence-based protocol and culturally suitable programs, and between unique innovative solutions and generalizable policies. For significant issues that are common across countries, Ageing International will organize special forums for scholars and investigators from different disciplines to present their regional perspectives as well as to provide more comprehensive analysis. The editors strongly believe that such discourse has the potential to foster a wide range of coordinated efforts that will lead to improvements in the quality of life of older persons worldwide. Abstracted and Indexed in: ABI/INFORM, Academic OneFile, Academic Search, CSA/Proquest, Current Abstracts, EBSCO, Ergonomics Abstracts, Expanded Academic, Gale, Google Scholar, Health Reference Center Academic, OCLC, PsychINFO, PsyARTICLES, SCOPUS, Social Science Abstracts, and Summon by Serial Solutions.