Table 4.
Robustness to Unmeasured Confounding (E-Values) for the Associations Between Loneliness (3rd Group vs. 1st Group) and Subsequent Health and Well-Being (N = 13,752)a.
| Effect Estimateb | Confidence Interval Limitc | |
|---|---|---|
| Physical Health | ||
| All-cause mortality | 2.22 | 1.62 |
| Number of chronic conditions | 1.20 | 1.00 |
| Diabetes | 1.09 | 1.00 |
| Hypertension | 1.15 | 1.00 |
| Stroke | 1.45 | 1.00 |
| Cancer | 1.25 | 1.00 |
| Heart disease | 1.13 | 1.00 |
| Lung disease | 1.81 | 1.25 |
| Arthritis | 1.19 | 1.00 |
| Overweight/obesity | 1.20 | 1.00 |
| Physical functioning limitations | 1.84 | 1.45 |
| Cognitive impairment | 1.43 | 1.00 |
| Chronic pain | 1.52 | 1.18 |
| Self-rated health | 1.49 | 1.28 |
| Health Behaviors | ||
| Heavy drinking | 1.51 | 1.00 |
| Smoking | 1.10 | 1.00 |
| Frequent physical activity | 1.34 | 1.00 |
| Sleep problems | 1.59 | 1.24 |
| Psychological Well-being | ||
| Positive affect | 2.21 | 2.00 |
| Life satisfaction | 2.18 | 1.98 |
| Optimism | 2.17 | 1.90 |
| Purpose in life | 2.14 | 1.98 |
| Mastery | 1.91 | 1.75 |
| Health mastery | 1.41 | 1.17 |
| Financial mastery | 1.79 | 1.60 |
| Psychological Distress | ||
| Depression | 4.74 | 3.42 |
| Depressive symptoms | 2.06 | 1.88 |
| Hopelessness | 2.10 | 1.84 |
| Negative affect | 2.21 | 1.96 |
| Constraints | 2.04 | 1.82 |
| Social Factors | ||
| Loneliness | 4.18 | 3.95 |
| Social isolation | 1.57 | 1.50 |
See VanderWeele and Ding (2017) for the formula for calculating E-values.
The E-values for effect estimates are the minimum strength of association on the risk ratio scale that an unmeasured confounder would need to have with both the exposure and the outcome to fully explain away the observed association between the exposure and outcome, conditional on the measured covariates.
The E-values for the limit of the 95% confidence interval (CI) closest to the null denote the minimum strength of association on the risk ratio scale that an unmeasured confounder would need to have with both the exposure and the outcome to shift the confidence interval to include the null value, conditional on the measured covariates.