Home Alone

Ageing Alone: Is Loneliness a Disease?

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Mdm L, in her 80s, had always been the heart of her family. During the weekends, her home would be filled with the lively chatter of children and grandchildren. She would buy and prepare ingredients from her regular market stalls and gather the family around the kitchen table to wrap dumplings. But after a fall at home, she suffered from a hip fracture that changed everything.

Suddenly, she became homebound and dependent on a helper to supervise her every move. She was instructed not to stand for many weeks, which kept her from her usual marketing and cooking. Her once bustling kitchen fell silent and her cheerfulness turned into forlornness and self-pity. Over the span of a few years, she became increasingly cynical, isolated and even forgetful.

As her house-call doctor, I wondered: could she be suffering from "loneliness"? It was obvious that isolation has had an effect on her physical and mental health. Unfortunately, this trend among elderly patients is not limited to my practice. Loneliness is increasingly common in many ageing societies. Its health consequences have been deemed a serious public health concern, triggering authorities across the globe to pump in money to address this problem.

The UK Government launched the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund with up to £30million to target chronic loneliness in 27 local communities in England. In South Korea, local authorities announced in October 2024 that they will spend almost US$327million to address loneliness. How does loneliness warrant such budgets?

WHAT IS LONELINESS?