{"doi":"10.1111/jgs.18688","title":"Estimates of loneliness among racially and ethnically diverse adults with serious mental illness in New York City boroughs: Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn","abstract":"The 2023 Surgeon General's US Advisory “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” brings attention to a growing problem in the USA.1 Loneliness is a feeling that has comparable impacts on health and mortality of those who are obese and smoke 15 cigarettes a day.2 In the USA, approximately 50% of people in the general population report loneliness1; however, some subgroups may have even higher rates. People with serious mental illness (SMI; defined as a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and treatment-refractory major depressive disorder) experience significant impairment in psychosocial functioning throughout their lifespan. Research has suggested that people with SMI experience approximately twice the rate of loneliness as the general population.3 However, to date, the prevalence of loneliness in people with SMI is not known. This study explores the prevalence of loneliness among adults with SMI in a supportive housing setting. The Bridge, a supportive housing agency with 350+ scattered site apartments and 24 residences across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, surveyed all residents aged 50+ years using the self-report Older Adult Needs Assessment (OANA). Secondary data analyses were conducted on OANA data from April 1, 2023 to April 30, 2023. Data included 565 adults with SMI who completed the valid, reliable three-item UCLA loneliness measure,4 which ranges from 3 to 9. Based on the scoring in previous studies, 3–5 were categorized as “not lonely,” and scores of 6–9 were “lonely.”5 Data were collected at The Bridge residences electronically by residential staff. Participants' demographic and primary ICD diagnosis data (F2x and F3x) were extracted from electronic health records electronically by staff. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the demographic characteristics of the sample. Missing data (0.9%) were omitted through listwise deletion. Logistic regression was used to determine the association of sociodemographic and clinical factors with loneliness in older community-dwelling adults with SMI. Analyses were conducted using SPSS 18. This secondary data analysis was approved by Dartmouth Health's institutional review board. The study employs the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology reporting guidelines. The mean age of respondents was 63.21 (6.24), range 55–89 years. The highest rates of loneliness were reported among men (63.5%), Black Americans (51.8%), people with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (59.1%), and people in congregate housing (70.8%) (Tables 1 and 2). A logistic regression was performed to ascertain associations of age, gender, race, SMI diagnosis, and housing type with the likelihood of being lonely among participants. The aforementioned factors, however, were not associated with being lonely. An analysis stratified by gender demonstrated that Hispanic females were less likely to feel lonely (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.006–0.971) and women residing in scattered site housing were associated with a higher likelihood of being lonely (AOR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.13–4.71). Rates of loneliness in people with SMI are consistent with estimates in the general population.4 High-risk groups for loneliness including Black Americans, people with schizophrenia, people residing in congregate housing, and women residing in scattersite housing were associated with higher likelihood of being lonely. Unlike the general population, age did not significantly impact loneliness, indicating the experience of SMI may trump traditional social determinants of health. People with SMI have identified loneliness as a top unmet need5 and a cause of early mortality in people with SMI, and is a critical intervention area.6 Limitations of the study include data from a single supportive housing system that may not be generalizable. Database limitations limit knowledge of factors that could affect loneliness, such as severity or duration of SMI. Karen L. F","journal":"Journal of the American Geriatrics Society","year":2023,"id":384029,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9545,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":408609,"name":"Taeho Greg Rhee","orcid":"0000-0003-4961-3361","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1128107,"name":"Lindsey Leininger","orcid":"0000-0001-7980-0083","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1151319,"name":"Joelle C. Ferron","orcid":"0000-0001-6278-8305","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":278538,"name":"Glyn Elwyn","orcid":"0000-0002-0917-6286","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":454951,"name":"Patrick J. Raue","orcid":"0000-0003-1086-9925","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1146019,"name":"Rebecca Heller","orcid":"0000-0002-7292-5227","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1151698,"name":"Jonathan Werlin","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":801785,"name":"Karen L. Fortuna","orcid":"0000-0003-0343-2346","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":5,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:17:33.041385Z","pmid":"38038487","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}