Ing-Tiat Tiunn,1,2 Kang-Ting Tsai,1,3 Ying-Jia Lin,4 Chung-Han Ho4â 6 1Department of Family Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 2Department of Philosophy, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan; 3Department of Geriatrics, Well Clinic, Tainan, Taiwan; 4Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 5Department of Information Management, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, Taiwan; 6Cancer Center, Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, TaiwanCorrespondence: Chung-Han Ho, Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, No. 901, Zhonghua Road Yongkang Dist, Tainan, 71004, Taiwan, Email ho.c.hank@gmail.comIntroduction: Loneliness is a growing public health concern among older adults. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of loneliness among community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan and compared the performance of three loneliness measurement tools.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adults aged ⥠65 years recruited from community centers in Southern Taiwan. Loneliness was assessed using the UCLA-LS-20, UCLA-LS-3, and a single-item direct measure. Psychological and health-related variables included LSNS-6, GDS-15, GAD-7, and EQ-5D-5L. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with loneliness, and ROC analysis was performed to compare the discriminatory performance of the three instruments.Results: Among 186 participants, the prevalence of loneliness ranged from 18% to 27% depending on the instrument used. Higher GDS-15 scores were consistently associated with loneliness across all models. Other associated factors included social network size, living arrangement, anxiety symptoms, and self-rated health. The models using the UCLA-LS-3 and single-item measure showed high AUC values (0.9005 and 0.8988, respectively), and the model using the UCLA-LS-20 also demonstrated good model-specific predictive performance (AUC=0.8123).Conclusion: Loneliness is common among older adults in Taiwan. Brief measures, such as the UCLA-LS-3 and single-item question, may be practical for community-based loneliness screening, and the UCLA-LS-20 remains useful for more comprehensive assessment.Keywords: loneliness, older adult, UCLA-LS-20, UCLA-LS-3, single-item direct measure, Taiwan
Tiunn et al. (Mon,) studied this question.