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Chronic loneliness in older adults leads to more doctors' office visits, study finds [MedicalXpress.com]

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Experiences of loneliness and social isolation can lead to increased health care use among older adults, according to new research from the University of Georgia College of Public Health.
The study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, found that the frequency of physician visits was particularly influenced by chronic lonelinessβ€”and suggests that the identification and targeting of interventions for lonely elders may significantly decrease physician visits and health care costs.
"Logically, it makes sense that people who are in poorer health because of loneliness would use health care more," said study co-author Kerstin Gerst Emerson, an assistant professor of health policy and management. "But we wondered, could people also be visiting their doctor or making those extra appointments because they were lonely?"

 

[For more of this story go to http://medicalxpress.com/news/...-adults-doctors.html]

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