Loneliness Screening Needed for Cancer Survivors

TOPLINE:

Higher mortality risks were associated with loneliness in cancer survivors in a new study. The authors concluded that screening for loneliness should be integrated into patients’ care in oncology and primary care.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers identified a cohort of cancer survivors aged ≥ 50 years from the 2008-2018 Health and Retirement Study in the United States.
• A total of 3371 cancer survivors with 5711 person-years of observation were included in the final analysis.
• Loneliness was measured using an 11-item abbreviated version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), with scores categorized into four levels: Low/no, mild, moderate, and severe loneliness
• Time-varying Cox proportional hazard models with age as a time scale were used to examine the association between loneliness and survival.
• Follow-up for vital status was obtained through December 31, 2020, with all-cause mortality as the outcome measure.

TAKEAWAY:

• Higher levels of loneliness were associated with increased mortality risk among cancer survivors, with the highest adjusted hazard ratio of 1.67 (95% CI, 1.25-2.23) observed in the severe loneliness group (P = .004).
• The association between loneliness and mortality risk followed a dose-response pattern, indicating that as loneliness levels increased, so did the mortality risk.
• Loneliness was more prevalent among cancer survivors who were men, non-White individuals, unmarried, less educated, had more health conditions, or felt depressed in the past year.
• The findings suggest that screening for loneliness should be a routine part of care for cancer survivors to identify those at higher risk and provide necessary interventions.

IN PRACTICE:

“Our findings suggest that screening patients for loneliness should be a component of survivorship care and of concern to primary care and cancer clinicians in light of the potential adverse associations of loneliness and mortality risk…,” wrote the authors of the study. “Ongoing evaluations of any lasting effects of the widespread social isolation that occurred during the pandemic are warranted.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jingxuan Zhao, MPH, and K. Robin Yabroff, PhD, MBA, both of Surveillance and Health Equity Science, American Cancer Society in Atlanta. It was published online on April 25 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

LIMITATIONS:

The study’s limitations included the use of an abbreviated measure to assess loneliness and reliance on self-reported data. Cancer-related information, such as type, stage, and treatment status, was not systematically collected. “Furthermore, the sample of cancer survivors was not sufficient to explore the modification effects of all key factors.” Additionally, about 5% of participants in the study were excluded due to missing key variables.

DISCLOSURES:

The authors disclosed no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.