Consecuencias de la soledad y el aislamiento en las personas mayores: una revisión sistemática

Loneliness and isolation in older people are concepts that have attracted attention in recent years due to their impact on the health and well-being of this social group. The objective of this work is to analyze the relationship between loneliness and isolation in older people with aspects related to their mental health, and examine if there are differences between both constructs. To this end, it was decided to carry out a systematic review following the PRISMA model, using the WOS and SCOPUS search engines. A total of 20 articles have been selected for the review. The results of the literature search confirm that loneliness affects anxiety, depression, perception of health or cognitive deterioration, in the same way as isolation. However, loneliness influences a greater number of variables, such as self-esteem. The conclusion reached is that loneliness negatively affects certain constructs related to the mental health of older people, which confirms the importance of developing preventive programs to alleviate its impact on this social group.