Lonely older adults are more likely to delay or avoid medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic (11/7/21)

Researchers examined how loneliness is linked with self-reported delay or avoidance of medical care among community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Among all respondents (n = 1,997), the rate of care delay or avoidance since March of 2020 was 29.1%; for lonely (n = 1,150, 57.6%) vs non-lonely respondents, it was 10.1% higher (33.5% vs 23.4%).

• There appeared a higher likelihood of delaying or avoiding medical care among older adults during the pandemic in correlation with loneliness.