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Research at the National Institute on Aging conducted a study that revealed that loneliness in older adults may cause serious health problems and even death.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, observed over 1,600 older adults over a six year period. The sample used participants 60 and older. Eighty-one percent were Caucasian, 11 percent African American, six percent Hispanic, and two percent of unknown ethnicity.

"In our typical medical model, we don't think of subjective feelings as affecting health," said first author Carla Perissinotto, MD, MHS, assistant professor in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. "It's intriguing to find that loneliness is independently associated with an increased rate of death and functional decline."

The study showed that the adults who said they felt lonely had a 59 percent less likely chance to perform daily activities such as upper extremity tasks, climbing stairs, and walking. Older adults feeling lonely had 45 percent higher risk of dying.

But one thing that stood out to the researchers was that loneliness did not necessarily mean living alone.

Of the adults surveyed, 43 percent said that they felt lonely, but only 18 percent of them lived alone.

"We are interested in identifying the different factors that cause adults to become functionally impaired and ultimately at risk for nursing home admission," Perissinotto said. "The aging of our population and the greater odds of institutionalization make it important for us to think about all the factors that are putting elders in danger, including social and environmental risks."