Tracing Loneliness in Aging: Understanding the Interplay and Exploring Innovative Interventions

Emotional isolation, or loneliness, is defined as a distressing experience arising from the discrepancy between desired and actual social connections; a subjective and negative state resulting from a cognitive appraisal of the gap between the quantity and quality of current relationships and personal relational expectations.

Loneliness is recognized as a significant and underestimated public health concern because of its detrimental effects on both physical and mental well-being and its associations with accelerated physiological aging and increased levels of physical disability. Several studies have demonstrated that, in older adults, loneliness is associated with reduced cognitive functioning across multiple domains (biopsychosocial frailty model). Loneliness has also been associated with unhealthy behaviors, such as reduced physical activity and accelerated motor decline in older age, as well as increased levels of disability. It has been found to have detrimental effects on mental health, including depression and sleep disturbances, and is also associated with cognitive decline and a higher risk of dementia.

This Research Topic aims to investigate the adequate assessment of loneliness in older age and whether the effects of loneliness across different groups based on functional status and cognitive performance could be included in a biopsychosocial frailty model of aging. With the potential barriers older adults may face in relation to technology use, this Research Topic also aims to determine whether technology-mediated interactions enhance, diminish, or merely replace meaningful social engagement and loneliness.

Submissions addressing the following sub-themes are encouraged:
- Exploring the potential causes of loneliness in older adults, including reduced family and social interactions, chronic illnesses and functional disabilities;
- The assessment and intervention process for loneliness in older adults;
- The construction of simplified models illustrating the potential direct and indirect pathways through which loneliness contributes to increased multimorbidity and mortality;
- Loneliness as one of the biopsychosocial frailty domains;
- The implementation of targeted and timely health advancements, preventative measures and informational services;
- Identifying solutions to maximize the effectiveness of telemedicine in loneliness, looking at hybrid models that combine face-to-face consultations with virtual healthcare delivery;
- Loneliness and psychosocial determinants of older age that could influence late-life depression manifestations through epigenetic mechanisms.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: social isolation, mild cognitive impairment, biopsychosocial frailty, late-life depression, multimorbidity

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.