![]() “We found that individuals with a digestive disease were more likely to report ‘poor-or-fair’ health when compared to those without one. “Overall, 60.4% and 55.6% of respondents with and without digestive diseases reported loneliness, while 12.7% and 7.5% reported severe depression, and 8.9% and 8.7% reported social isolation, respectively,” said Cohen-Mekelburg. Out of a pool of 7,110 participants, the team identified 56% of individuals with a digestive disease and 44% without one. This, despite having a strong social network.” But on the other hand, there are also people who are socially connected, yet suffer from low psychological wellbeing and loneliness. “Therefore, there are people who live in isolation but are well-adapted, not lonely and report high psychological wellbeing. However, Cohen-Mekelburg adds that social isolation refers to the “objective physical separation from other people, which is independent of psychological well-being.” The correlation between loneliness and depression is well established.” “It’s important to note that loneliness refers to the subjective distressed feeling of being alone or lacking companionship. who are 50 years and older, as well as their spouses,” she said. This is a longitudinal panel study that involves a representative sample of approximately 20,000 individuals in the U.S. “Our research involved analyzing data from 2008 to 2016 from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study. Their findings were recently published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.Ĭohen-Mekelburg notes that the team also “wanted to quantify these numbers with self-reported rates of poor health.” This notion inspired Cohen-Mekelburg and a team of fellow gastroenterologists and hepatologists to examine the rates of loneliness, depression and social isolation in older adults both with and without digestive diseases. ![]() “These factors have the potential to significantly impact gastrointestinal health, and they also play a crucial role in the overall wellbeing of our patients.” “As physicians, it’s important for us to pay attention to psychosocial factors involved in the lives of our patients, but they often go overlooked,” she said. However, she notes that current approaches often fail to consider how things like psychosocial factors contribute to these conditions. Not only are these conditions debilitating for the millions of people living with them, but they’re also very expensive to treat.”Ĭohen-Mekelburg says that in recent years, there has been a greater emphasis among providers in detecting why so many Americans are developing digestive diseases. “Ultimately, this creates an excess in health care spending in the United States. ![]() “Many people don’t realize that these conditions are very common in ambulatory care,” said Michigan Medicine gastroenterologist Shirley Ann Cohen-Mekelburg, M.D., who specializes in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. While life expectancy rates for older Americans are rising, nearly 40% of adults report living with a digestive disease of some kind.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |