Context of walking and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults: a cross-sectional study

Sachiko Mizuta · Kazuaki Uchida · Ryuichi Sawa · Junya Nakamura · Haruhi Encho · Toshihiro Akisue +1 more

21 citations0/0 files storedBMC Geriatrics

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Health disparities and outcomes Physical Activity and Health Aging, Health, and Disability

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Older adults are more likely to experience loneliness than younger people. Moreover, greater loneliness in older adults is associated with poor mental health and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Physical activity is an effective intervention for reducing loneliness among older adults. Among physical activities, walking is suitable for older adults, because it is easy and safe to incorporate into daily life. We hypothesized that the association between walking and loneliness depends on the presence of others and the number of people present. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between the context of walking (the number of walkers) and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 173 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 or older. Context of walking was classified as non-walking, walking alone (days of walking alone > days of walking with someone), and walking with someone (days of walking alone ≤ days of walking with someone). Loneliness was measured using the Japanese version of the University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale. A linear regression model was used to investigate the relationship between context of walking and loneliness, adjusted for age, sex, living situation, social participation, and physical activity excluding walking. RESULTS: Data from 171 community-dwelling older adults (mean age = 78.0 years, 59.6% women) were analyzed. After adjustment, walking with someone was associated with lower loneliness than non-walking (adjusted β: -0.51, 95% confidence interval: -1.00, -0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The study's findings suggest that walking with a companion may effectively prevent or reduce loneliness among older adults.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 21 citations exist upstream.

References

2015Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality 1996UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure 2017An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness 2022The prevalence of loneliness across 113 countries: systematic review and meta-analysis 2008Loneliness and the health of older people 2015Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualitative insights 2018Association of loneliness with all-cause mortality: A meta-analysis 2021A systematic review of longitudinal risk factors for loneliness in older adults

Cited by

2024Evaluation of health factors on artificial intelligence and the internet of things-based older adults healthcare programmes 2025Unraveling the Walking Experience of Older Urban Adults in Seoul, South Korea: A Qualitative Geographic Information System Approach

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.