The study showed that many doctors in general practice do not know what to do with loneliness among their older patients.

General practitioners can play a vital role in identifying the lonely elderly and preventing their feelings of loneliness from evolving into illness and social isolation, says GP Frans Boch Waldorff, who was among the authors of the study.

The study was carried out in cooperation between the University of Copenhagen, the Research Unit for General Practice, the Storm P Museum, University College Absalon, and the Centre for Applied Health Services and Research (CAST), University of Southern Denmark.

The EGV Foundation (Social Inclusion for Older Adults) funded the part of the project associated with the doctors’ contact with older patients.

The results are published in the article Is patients’ loneliness a matter for general practice? A qualitative study.