• J. Korean Med. Sci. · Sep 2023

    Prevalence of Loneliness and Its Association With Suicidality in the General Population: Results From a Nationwide Survey in Korea.

    • Jimin Lee, Man ChangSungS0000-0001-7077-7171Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea., Bong-Jin Hahm, Jee Eun Park, Su Jeong Seong, Jin Pyo Hong, Hong Jin Jeon, Hyonggin An, and Byung-Soo Kim.
    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
    • J. Korean Med. Sci. 2023 Sep 11; 38 (36): e287e287.

    BackgroundAlthough it is known that a substantial proportion of the population experience loneliness, the consequence of loneliness remains unclear by countries and ages. Accordingly, this study aimed to assess the association between loneliness and suicidality in the general population of Korea.MethodA total of 5,511 Koreans aged 18-79 completed a tablet-assisted personal interview using the Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and responded to questions about loneliness and lifetime suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts. A logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between loneliness and suicidality.ResultsApproximately one-third of the Korean general population reported loneliness. Being older, never married, widowed, separated, or divorced, unemployed, and having a part-time job were all significantly related to loneliness. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, individuals with loneliness were significantly associated with increased suicidal ideation (adjusted odd ratio [aOR], 4.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.36-4.88), suicidal plans (aOR, 4.91; 95% CI, 3.34-7.21), and suicidal attempts (aOR, 4.82; 95% CI, 3.03-7.66). Even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors and mental disorders, suicidality remained statistically significant. Moreover, frequent, moderate-to-severe, and long-term loneliness were all associated with increased ORs for suicidality, regardless of sociodemographic factors and mental disorders.ConclusionLoneliness was associated with suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts. This study lays the foundation for public health policymakers to establish early intervention and mental health care support for lonely people.© 2023 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…