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Longitudinal Associations Between Loneliness and Prescription Medication Use

Author

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  • Jack Lam
  • Michael Vuolo
  • Jessica Kelley

Abstract

ObjectivesBoth loneliness and the use of psychotropic drugs are common in later life. Although loneliness has been found to be associated with psychotropic drug use, most studies have been cross-sectional, and we know less about their longitudinal associations.MethodsDrawing on five waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study and two statistical approaches (fixed-effects and cross-lagged panel models), we examine longitudinal associations between loneliness and the use of prescription pain and depression/anxiety medications.ResultsAcross 57,654 observations among 20,589 respondents, 22.8% reported regular use of pain prescription medications, 17.8% regular use of depression/anxiety prescription medication, and 15.6% feeling lonely in the past week. Loneliness and the use of depression/anxiety medications were associated according to both modeling approaches, net of covariates. In years when a respondent reported feeling lonely, the odds of regular use of depression/anxiety medications were 1.42 times higher (p

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Lam & Michael Vuolo & Jessica Kelley, 2023. "Longitudinal Associations Between Loneliness and Prescription Medication Use," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 78(4), pages 730-735.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:78:y:2023:i:4:p:730-735.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbad010
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