Table 5.
Synthesis of quantitative evidence by study design
| Social connectedness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive impact | Negative or no impact | |||
| Health outcomes | Cohort | Cross-sectional | Cohort | Cross-sectional |
| Death or hospital admission | 6 | 2 | ||
| Functional decline (cohort), physical function, cognitive decline | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Mental health: anxiety, depression, depressive symptoms, psychological well-being | 7 | 35 | 1 | 7 |
| Quality of life satisfaction with life, positive affect, self-esteem, morale, meaning in life, successful aging | 2 | 33 | 1 | 8 |
| Self-rated health | 1 | 6 | 2 | |
| Vitality, thriving | 3 | |||
| Underweight, malnutrition, insufficient energy intake, self-feeding dependence, weight loss | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| CNS medication use: antipsychotic use or hypnotics | 1 (women) | 1 | 1 (men) | 1 |
| Symptoms: pain, dyspnea, fatigue, anomia, sleep | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Aggressive behaviors, positive behaviors | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| Urinary incontinence, pressure ulcers | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
The number of studies does not equal the total number of cohort and cross-sectional studies because some studies evaluated multiple health outcomes and some studies evaluated multiple dimensions of social connectedness.