This measure reflects the age-adjusted percentage of Utah adults who feel socially isolated or lonely. Results are gathered from "always" or "usually" responses to the following question on the Utah Department of Health and Human Services Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System:

NOTE: The BRFSS question wording changes in 2023 to "How often do you feel lonely? Is it always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never?"

BRFSS question wording 2019-2022: How often do you feel socially isolated from others? Is it always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never?   

National data: The target value is based on the age-adjusted percentage of U.S adults who feel lonely from the national BRFSS data. This question was added as an optional module in 2022. 

Data source: 

• Utah Department of Health and Human Services Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (https://ibis.health.utah.gov/ibisph-view/query/result/brfss/LandlineCellAgeAdj5_Isolated/Isolated.html)

The lack of social connection poses a significant risk to your health and longevity. The mortality impact of socially disconnectedness is similar to that of smoking as many as 15 cigarettes a day. (Holt-Lunstad J, Robles TF, Sbarra DA. Advancing social connection as a public health priority in the United States. Am Psychol. 2017;72(6):517–530.) In 2022, a slightly lower (but not significantly different) percent of Utah adults reported feeling socially isolated (9.4%, 95% confidence interval: 8.6%-10.3%) compared to all U.S adults (10.2%. 95% confidence interval: 9.9%-10.6%). There was no significant difference between the percent of Utah adults reporting they feel lonely in 2024 (6.9%) than those reporting loneliness in 2023 (6.7%).  

Additional information on social isolation and loneliness among adults in Utah can be found: https://ibis.utah.gov/ibisph-view/pdf/opha/publication/hsu/2024/2402_SocIso-OOHBirth.pdf#HSU1