Friederike Boehlen1, Wolfgang Herzog1, Renate Quinzler2, Walter E Haefeli2, Imad Maatouk1, Dorothea Niehoff1, Kai-Uwe Saum3, Hermann Brenner4, Beate Wild1. 1. Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Medical University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. 2. Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacoepidemiology, Medical University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. 3. Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany. 4. Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Saarland, Saarbruecken, Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between loneliness in elderly people with the use of psychotropic drugs. METHODS: A subsample of 3111 participants (ages 55-85) of the large population-based German ESTHER study was included in the study. Loneliness was measured by using a three-item questionnaire. Two subgroups were defined according to their degrees of loneliness. Psychotropic drugs were categorized by study doctors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between loneliness subgroups and the use of psychotropic drugs adjusted for psychosocial variables, multimorbidity, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom severity. RESULTS: Of the participants 14.1% (95%-CI = [12.9; 15.4]) were estimated to have a high degree of loneliness (women > men); 19% (95%-CI = [17.6; 20.4]) of the participants used psychotropic drugs, 8.4% (95%-CI = [7.5; 9.5]) antidepressants. Logistic regression analysis showed that more lonely participants had significantly higher odds for using psychotropic drugs (OR: 1.495; 95%-CI = [1.121; 1.993]). Depression severity, somatic symptom severity, and female gender were also positively associated with the use of psychotropic drugs. CONCLUSION: A high degree of subjective loneliness in the elderly is associated with the use of psychotropic drugs, even after adjustment for somatic and psychological comorbidities and psychosocial variables.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between loneliness in elderly people with the use of psychotropic drugs. METHODS: A subsample of 3111 participants (ages 55-85) of the large population-based German ESTHER study was included in the study. Loneliness was measured by using a three-item questionnaire. Two subgroups were defined according to their degrees of loneliness. Psychotropic drugs were categorized by study doctors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between loneliness subgroups and the use of psychotropic drugs adjusted for psychosocial variables, multimorbidity, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom severity. RESULTS: Of the participants 14.1% (95%-CI = [12.9; 15.4]) were estimated to have a high degree of loneliness (women > men); 19% (95%-CI = [17.6; 20.4]) of the participants used psychotropic drugs, 8.4% (95%-CI = [7.5; 9.5]) antidepressants. Logistic regression analysis showed that more lonely participants had significantly higher odds for using psychotropic drugs (OR: 1.495; 95%-CI = [1.121; 1.993]). Depression severity, somatic symptom severity, and female gender were also positively associated with the use of psychotropic drugs. CONCLUSION: A high degree of subjective loneliness in the elderly is associated with the use of psychotropic drugs, even after adjustment for somatic and psychological comorbidities and psychosocial variables.
Authors: Tibor V Varga; Feifei Bu; Agnete S Dissing; Leonie K Elsenburg; Joel J Herranz Bustamante; Joane Matta; Sander K R van Zon; Sandra Brouwer; Ute Bültmann; Daisy Fancourt; Klaus Hoeyer; Marcel Goldberg; Maria Melchior; Katrine Strandberg-Larsen; Marie Zins; Amy Clotworthy; Naja H Rod Journal: Lancet Reg Health Eur Date: 2021-03
Authors: Franziska Tutzer; Beatrice Frajo-Apor; Silvia Pardeller; Barbara Plattner; Anna Chernova; Christian Haring; Bernhard Holzner; Georg Kemmler; Josef Marksteiner; Carl Miller; Martin Schmidt; Barbara Sperner-Unterweger; Alex Hofer Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2021-06-10 Impact factor: 4.157