{
  "abstract": "Background Loneliness is a major risk factor for mental disorders and cognitive impairment. Chronically lonely people have worse sleep, more heart disease, an increased risk of stroke, are more vulnerable to metastatic cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Various psychological, behavioural, and physiological mechanisms have been proposed to explain the health consequences of loneliness. This study explored a range of antecedents, consequences, and moderators of chronic loneliness in a general adult population.Methods We used a subsample, the Innovation Panel, of the UK Household Longitudinal Study, an ongoing longitudinal study with annual data from around 1,500 households in England, Scotland, or Wales. Our analytic sample includes adults aged 40 years or above in 2018. Loneliness was measured using the UCLA loneliness scale in 2018, 2019 and 2021.Results The results revealed that people who more frequently experienced physical and mental ill-health at work, who had worse concentration, loss of sleep, felt under strain and worthless, and who had long-standing illnesses, were more likely to experience chronic loneliness (2018-19). Chronic loneliness predicted future loneliness (2021), lack of sleep and worse subjective well-being. Chronic loneliness was not associated with hair cortisol, hair cortisone, or full blood cholesterol levels. The associations of chronic loneliness with blood triglycerides and hair dehydroepiandrosterone levels were weak and did not survive correction for multiplicity. More vigorous activities buffered the link between chronic loneliness in 2018-19 and loneliness in 2021. More frequent use of the messaging function in phones did not moderate the continuity of loneliness but independently predicted lower levels of loneliness.Conclusion Several risk factors were identified to be linked with chronic loneliness, and physical activity may help mitigate the continuity of loneliness. The findings provide insights for early identification of adults at higher risk for chronic loneliness and inform potential prevention and intervention approaches in supporting those in need.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Iris (Dongying) Ji"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Gordon Harold"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P11-2 A Prospective Cohort Study on Chronic Loneliness in Adults: Antecedents, Consequences, and Moderators",
  "uid": "698afec5-5681-5d77-aabb-b62865ac1938"
}