Association Between Public Transportation Use and Loneliness Among Urban Elderly People Who Stop Driving

We hope you enjoy this month’s deep dive into the relationship between mental health and public transportation. This week’s selection is research from Kobe city, Japan, that examines the role of public transportation in the incidence of loneliness among a population of elders who have stopped driving.

Excerpt: Loneliness is a subjective measure of suffering and quality of life unlike objective measures such as out-of-home activities or social isolation (Perissinotto, Stijacic, & Covinsky, 2012). Loneliness is associated with increased activities of daily living disability and mortality in older adults (Perissinotto et al., 2012). Therefore, it is necessary to prevent loneliness in older adults who stop driving.

Citation: Matsuda N, Murata S, Torizawa K, Isa T, Ebina A, Kondo Y, Tsuboi Y, Fukuta A, Okumura M, Shigemoto C, Ono R. Association Between Public Transportation Use and Loneliness Among Urban Elderly People Who Stop Driving. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2019 Jul 13;5:2333721419851293. doi: 10.1177/2333721419851293. PMID: 31321253; PMCID: PMC6628514.