About ]h of the nearly 30 million noninstitutionalized elderly persons in the USA live alone. The very old are most likely to live alone; almost half of those > 85 yr old do so. Of the elderly living alone, 78% are women. Married men are more likely to die before their wives, and widowed and divorced men are more likely to remarry than are wid¬owed and divorced women.
Elderly persons living alone represent one of the most vulnerable and impoverished segments of American society. Because living alone complicates the aging experience and presents a particular array of challenges and problems, physicians who provide medical care to these elderly persons need to recognize and be sensitive to their nonmedical needs.