A new study by Public Health Wales, Bangor University and Liverpool John Moores University has shown how abuse, struggling with finances and loneliness and social isolation in later life increase people’s risks of poor health.

The study surveyed over a thousand adults aged 60 years and over living in households across Wales. It found that, since the age of 60:

• 12.5 per cent of participants had experienced abuse.
• 19.0 per cent of participants had struggled financially.
• 20.7 per cent of participants had felt lonely or socially isolated.
   

People that reported one of these experiences were also more likely to report other adverse experiences, which also included feeling overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities and being unable to access health or social care. For example, 42.6 per cent of those that had suffered abuse also reported having felt lonely or socially isolated compared with 17.6 per cent of those that had not suffered abuse.

The study measured ten poorer health outcomes. Abuse, struggling financially, loneliness and social isolation each independently increased people’s risks of most of these poorer health outcomes. For example:

• Those that had suffered abuse were more than twice as likely as those who had not to smoke tobacco and over four times as likely to have had suicidal thoughts or have self-harmed. 
• Those that had struggled financially were over twice as likely as those who had not to have low life satisfaction and four times as likely to report self-neglect. 
• Those that had felt lonely or socially isolated were twice as likely as those who had not to have bad or very bad self-rated health, and more than four times as likely to have low mental well-being.

Further information