Survey reveals strong link between poor health and loneliness

As reported by Medscape, adults in England who report ‘bad or very bad’ health are more than three times as likely to report feeling lonely than those with ‘good or very good health’, said NHS England

NHS England’s Health Survey for England, 2021 part 2 investigated a variety of areas concerning the health of the nation. It aimed to estimate the proportion of people in England who had health conditions, and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with certain health conditions, and how prevalence varied within the population.

For the latest survey, 5880 adults aged 16 years and over were quizzed about their health (general health, diabetes, cholesterol, and hypertension), loneliness and wellbeing, physical activity, social care for older adults, and gambling.

When asked about loneliness, the survey included the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) direct measure of loneliness in the self-completion questionnaire. This asked participants, ‘How often do you feel lonely?’ Participants were asked to respond on a five-point scale with categories ‘Never’, ‘Hardly ever’, ‘Occasionally’, ‘Some of the time’, and ‘Often or always’.

More than one in five people in England (22%) reported feeling lonely at least some of the time. The survey uncovered that over four times as many adults (27%) never felt lonely, compared to the six per cent who said they ‘often or always’ felt lonely, who thereby suffered with chronic loneliness.  

For all of those who self-reported that they felt lonely ‘often or always’, one in 10 lived alone, compared with four per cent who lived with others. It was a similar ratio for women (10% versus four per cent, respectively), as it was for men (11% versus vs four per cent, respectively).

NHS England said that more than three quarters of adults (77%) reported ‘good or very good’ general health, with six per cent reporting ‘bad or very bad’ general health.

With regards to loneliness and its association with poor health, NHS England said that three in five adults (62%) reporting bad or very bad health said they felt lonely at least some of the time compared to one in five (18%) with good or very good health, an NHS England spokesperson said. 

However, when comparing the general health of those who felt lonely ‘often or always’, seven times (28%) as many said they had ‘bad or very bad’ health as those who said they had ‘very good or good’ (four per cent) health.

Again, it was a similar ratio for women, with almost one in three (30%) saying that they had ‘bad or very bad health’ and felt lonely ‘often or always’ versus four per cent with ‘very good or good health’. For men it was a similar picture (25% versus three per cent).

In regards to age, younger people (16-34 years) were around 33% more likely than those aged 65 and over to report feeling lonely ‘some of the time’, with the older people surveyed three times less likely to report feeling lonely ‘often or always’, compared to their younger counterparts (two per cent versus six per cent).

Commenting for Medscape News UK, Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, postulated there was reason to believe that official statistics tended to understate the prevalence of loneliness among those who are older. She said that “older men, in particular, can find it uncomfortable admitting they suffer from loneliness, having grown up at a time when it was less socially acceptable to talk about their feelings than it is today”.

There was also variation across the English regions with feeling lonely ‘some of the time’, being most likely in the North East (20%), with people in the East Midlands least likely (12%) to say they felt this way. Those in Yorkshire and the Humber were most likely to ‘never feel lonely’ (33%), with Londoners (22%) least likely to agree with this.