TABLE 5—

Sensitivity Analysis of Loneliness Among Community-Dwelling Persons Aged 60 Years and Older, Using 2 Definitions of Loneliness: Health and Retirement Study, United States, 2008 and 2012

	No. of Doctor Visits		No. of Hospital Visits
Variable	Primary Loneliness Definition, β (P)	Alternative Loneliness Definition, β (P)	Primary Loneliness Definition, β (P)	Alternative Loneliness Definition, β (P)
Lonely in both years	0.075 (.029)	0.073 (.046)	0.048 (.423)	0.059 (.426)
Lonely only in 2008	0.063 (.215)	0.077 (.132)	0.218 (.031)	0.017 (.848)
Lonely only in 2012	0.015 (.683)	0.092 (.089)	0.136 (.09)	0.065 (.421)
Constant	1.125 (< .001)	1.140 (< .001)	−3.081 (< .001)	−3.037 (< .001)

Note. Alternative loneliness definition: individuals are categorized as lonely only if they responded “some of the time” or “often” to at least 2 of the 3 items in the scale. Primary loneliness definition: individuals are categorized as lonely if they responded “some of the time” or “often” to at least 1 of the 3 items in the scale.