Longitudinal Associations Between Loneliness and Prescription Medication Use

Jack Lam, Michael Vuolo and Jessica Kelley

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2023, vol. 78, issue 4, 730-735

Abstract: ObjectivesBoth loneliness and the use of psychotropic drugs are common in later life. Although loneliness has been found to be associated with psychotropic drug use, most studies have been cross-sectional, and we know less about their longitudinal associations.MethodsDrawing on five waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study and two statistical approaches (fixed-effects and cross-lagged panel models), we examine longitudinal associations between loneliness and the use of prescription pain and depression/anxiety medications.ResultsAcross 57,654 observations among 20,589 respondents, 22.8% reported regular use of pain prescription medications, 17.8% regular use of depression/anxiety prescription medication, and 15.6% feeling lonely in the past week. Loneliness and the use of depression/anxiety medications were associated according to both modeling approaches, net of covariates. In years when a respondent reported feeling lonely, the odds of regular use of depression/anxiety medications were 1.42 times higher (p

Keywords: Health and Retirement Study; Loneliness; Longitudinal study; Medication use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

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