ABSTRACT

Aim: Conducting a comprehensive systematic review of world sources to create a more complete understanding of the problem of loneliness among older people and to identify the relationship with chronic morbidity.

Methods: We have reviewed current sources over a ten-year period. A systematic review was conducted in Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, LILACS, OpenGrey, and Cochrane Library on peer-reviewed studies and doctoral dissertations published from 2010 to 2019 the impact of social exclusion and / or loneliness on the development of morbidity for people aged 60 years and older.

Conclusions: This systematic review aimed at comparing the presence of social isolation or loneliness in older people over 60 years of age with the development of chronic morbidity. A deep understanding of loneliness will allow us to determine what type of assistance will be more effective, and we will be able to improve the condition and quality of social contacts. In addition, we will include studies conducted over the past three decades without any linguistic or geographical restrictions.

Keywords: loneliness, social isolation, gerontology, morbidity, family