Prevalence and Determinants of Loneliness Among Older Adults Living Alone: Evidence From a National Survey Conducted During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Mexico

Abstract

Older people living alone are particularly vulnerable to loneliness. To contribute to the understanding of this issue in the Global South, we estimated the prevalence of loneliness and analyzed the association between sociodemographic characteristics, digital social isolation, and loneliness in older adults living alone, during the COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico. Data were drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT) Continua COVID-19 conducted in 2020. The prevalence of loneliness was 49.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 44.7–54.8); while the prevalence of digital social isolation was 45.3% (95% CI 40.5–50.2). A multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated that lack of education (odds ratio [OR] = 2.40, 95% CI 1.23–4.69; p = .011) and widowhood (OR = 2.51, 95% CI 1.54–4.10; p < .001) were significantly associated with loneliness. Identifying the sociodemographic characteristics of older adults living alone who are most likely to feel lonely can inform the designing of targeted interventions and policies to address loneliness in this vulnerable group.