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The present study is aimed at exploring the role of loneliness in the healthcare professionals' mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain. A total of 1,421 healthcare professionals who were in contact with at least one positive COVID-19 patient participated in a cross-sectional online survey from April to June 2020. Mental health was measured with the General Health Questionnaire-12, and loneliness was assessed with the 3-item UCLA Loneliness Scale. More than 80% of participants showed a certain prone to experience mental health problems, and 90% felt that they had not enough workplace protective measures to manage COVID-19 patients. Presence of loneliness was positively related to higher mental health problems after controlling for other covariates. Other factors related to higher mental health problems were a higher COVID-19 risk perception, being in quarantine, checking COVID-19-related news several times a day and having a lower training on managing infectious diseases. Neither living alone, nor supervisor social support, were related to healthcare professionals' mental health. Results suggest that the impact of COVID-19 in terms of mental health in the healthcare professionals could be more related to subjective appraisals of social isolation rather than to be physically alone. There were also a variety of cognitive, behavioural and training-related factors that were associated with the healthcare professionals' mental health, and that should be potentially managed in the mental healthcare interventions., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between loneliness and all-cause mortality over a six-year follow-up period using the overall sample and by age groups (18-59 years and 60+ years)., Method: Data from a longitudinal, prospective study of a nationally-representative sample of the Spanish non-institutionalized adult population were analysed (n = 4467). Mortality was ascertained via linkage to the National Death Index or obtained during the household visits. The UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to measure loneliness. Sex, age, education, physical activity, tobacco consumption, body mass index, disability, depression, living situation, and social participation were also considered as covariates. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were carried out., Results: A higher level of loneliness was not associated with mortality risk in fully covariate-adjusted models over the entire population (HR = 1.02; 95% CI = 0.94, 1.12). The interaction term between loneliness and age groups was significant, indicating that the rate for survival of loneliness varied by age (HR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.63 for young- and middle-aged individuals; HR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.89, 1.04 for older adults)., Conclusions: The development of interventions aimed at tackling loneliness among young- and middle-aged adults might contribute to a mortality risk reduction. Future research is warranted to test whether our results can be replicated., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Josep Maria Haro is consultant of Elli Lilly and Co, Roche, Lundbeck and Otsuka. None of these activities are related to the current project. For the remaining authors, no interests are declared., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Loneliness has social and health implications. The aim of this article is to evaluate the association of loneliness with all-cause mortality., Methods: Pubmed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus databases were searched through June 2016 for published articles that measured loneliness and mortality. The main characteristics and the effect size values of each article were extracted. Moreover, an evaluation of the quality of the articles included was also carried out. A meta-analysis was performed firstly with all the included articles and secondly separating by gender, using a random effects model., Results: A total of 35 articles involving 77220 participants were included in the systematic review. Loneliness is a risk factor for all-cause mortality [pooled HR = 1.22, 95% CI = (1.10, 1.35), p < 0.001] for both genders together, and for women [pooled HR = 1.26, 95% CI = (1.07, 1.48); p = 0.005] and men [pooled HR = 1.44; 95% CI = (1.19, 1.76); p < 0.001] separately., Conclusions: Loneliness shows a harmful effect for all-cause mortality and this effect is slightly stronger in men than in women. Moreover, the impact of loneliness was independent from the quality evaluation of each article and the effect of depression.