Loneliness Relates to Functional Mobility in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: The Look AHEAD Study

Jeanne M McCaffery; Andrea Anderson; Mace Coday; Mark A Espeland; Amy A Gorin; Karen C Johnson; William C Knowler; Candice A Myers; W Jack Rejeski; Helmut O Steinberg; Andrew Steptoe; Rena R Wing

doi:10.1155/2020/7543702

Loneliness Relates to Functional Mobility in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: The Look AHEAD Study

J Aging Res. 2020 Oct 30:2020:7543702. doi: 10.1155/2020/7543702. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
² Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
⁴ Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention and Policy, and Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
⁵ Diabetes Epidemiology and Clinical Research Section, Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch, National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
⁶ Pennington Biomedical Research Center Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
⁷ Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
⁸ Department of Endocrinology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
⁹ Behavioural Science and Health Institute of Epidemiology & Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Miriam Hospital and Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the impact of loneliness on physical health among elderly individuals with diabetes. Here, we examined the relationship of loneliness with disability, objective physical function, and other health outcomes in older individuals with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity.

Method: Data are drawn from the Look AHEAD study, a diverse cohort of individuals (ages 61-92) with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes measured 5-6 years after a 10-year weight loss randomized, controlled trial.

Results: Loneliness scores were significantly associated with greater disability symptoms and slower 4-meter gait speed (ps < 0.01). Loneliness did not differ across treatment arms. Discussion. Overall, these results extend prior findings relating loneliness to disability and decreased mobility to older individuals with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity.

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Abstract

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