The Thin End

The coronavirus shut down has made us all more aware of the problems of loneliness.  Loneliness itself can be a cause of mental health problems, of morbidity and of premature death.   A new study in the United States shows the impact of loneliness on the end of life experience.  In a study of Americans over age 50 years who died between 2004 and 2014, individuals who were characterized as lonely based on survey results were burdened by more symptoms and received more intense end-of-life care compared with non-lonely people. In the 2,896-participant study, which is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, one-third of adults were lonely. In addition to having an increased likelihood of experiencing troublesome symptoms at the end of life, isolated individuals were more likely to use life support in the last 2 years of life (35.5% versus 29.4%) and more likely to die in a nursing home (18.4% versus 14.2%) than non-lonely individuals. Dr Nauz...