Temporal Trends in Loneliness Across Four Decades in the Framingham Heart Study

Abstract Using the Framingham Heart Study, we aimed to describe the prevalence of loneliness within age groups across four decades. Participants completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale) and responded how often they felt lonely in the past week. We included in our analysis 30,186 observations longitudinally collected between 1980-2019. Loneliness reported at least once weekly was more prevalent in younger age groups, decreased in mid-life and then increased in older age in a U shaped curve as in prior literature; this trajectory persisted across decades with total prevalences of: 26.6%, 22.5%, 20.6%, 18.3%, 16.5%, 23.1%, and 33.7% in age groups 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75-84 and 85-94 respectively. Loneliness three or more times per week decreased from the 1980s for all ages with continued declines in younger (25-34; 35-44) and older (75-84; 85-94) age groups. Despite these decreases, loneliness prevalence remained highest in the oldest age groups (75-84; 85-94) which reported rates of 11.6% and 15.9% respectively, compared to 5.7-6.9% in younger participants. Loneliness prevalence in ages 75-84 and 85-94 declined across decades with rates respectively of 22.4% and 36.0% from 1980-1989; 11.4% and 15.3% from 1990-1999; 9.7% and 13.9% from 2000-2009; and 7.0% and 9.8% from 2010-2019. However, prevalence rates across ages still maintained a J shaped curve. Loneliness has decreased from the 1980s in the Framingham Heart Study, though older adults ages 75-84 and 85-94 maintained the highest prevalence of loneliness. Further research into factors contributing to declining rates of loneliness is merited.