Loneliness Mediated Impact of Depression on Quality of Life for OAs

Loneliness partially mediated the effect of depression on quality of life in older adults with mild cognitive impairment living in long-term care facilities, according to findings published in Psychogeriatrics.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey with purposive sampling of 170 older adults with mild cognitive impairment in Pakistan. The sample included 88 older adults in long-term care facilities and 82 in family residences.

Participants completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and Mild Cognitive Impairment Scale. Findings indicated that 98.2% of participants had severe to extreme depression, while 85.3% had moderate to moderately high levels of loneliness.

Depression was significantly associated with loneliness (b=.29, P<.05) and poor quality of life (b=.49, P<.001) in this patient population. Although researchers suggested that the relationship between depression and quality of life could be bidirectional, loneliness was only significant in the indirect effect of depression on quality of life (95% confidence interval [0.002, 0.156]).

Additional findings indicated that older women had higher levels of depression and poor quality of life, while older men had higher levels of loneliness.

Reference:
Zafar J, Malik NI, Atta M, Makhdoom IF, Ullah I, Manzar MD. Loneliness may mediate the relationship between depression and the quality of life among elderly with mild cognitive impairment [published online ahead of print July 24, 2021]. Psychogeriatrics. doi:10.1111/psyg.12749