Media release

From: American College of Physicians

Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults with a disability report persistent loneliness

A brief research report characterized loneliness severity in two national samples of people with disabilities (PWD). The study found that severe loneliness was highly prevalent in all disability types, with PWD reporting persistent feelings of loneliness at greater rates than the general population. The findings suggest further research is needed to understand drivers of loneliness among PWD. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from Brown University performed cross-sectional analyses of two samples of working-age U.S. adults (aged 18 to 64 years) using the National Survey on Health and Disability (NSHD). Samples 1 and 2 (S1 and S2) were surveyed between October 2019 and January 2020 and October 2023 and February 2024, respectively. To stratify results by disability type, they created eight disability categories: six “ACS-6” categories derived from the American Community Survey (ACS), an “SSI/SSDI” category based on self-reported enrollment in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and/or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and a “Disability Not Classified” category composed of respondents with disability indicated on NSHD eligibility screening but missed by ACS-6 and SSI/SSDI questions. The researchers used the UCLA Loneliness Scale to evaluate loneliness burden. They found that the burden of severe loneliness was 65% (95% CI, 61% to 69%) in S1 and 68% (CI, 62% to 73%) in S2. Across samples and disability categories, rates of “often” responses to LS questions ranged from 18% (CI, 9% to 27%) to 52% (CI, 44% to 60%). The results indicate that the loneliness burden among adults with disabilities is exceptionally high.