A National Institute on Ageing (NIA) survey revealed social isolation, financial stress, and a steep decline in positive feelings toward ageing among older Canadian adults.<\/p>\n The decline in optimism toward ageing is the steepest since the annual survey began 4 years ago, noted survey authors Talia Bronstein, director of Policy, and Samir Sinha, MD, director of Health Policy Research, both at the NIA.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the flip side, it was promising to see that more older adults reported having access to a regular primary care physician, and fewer reported that they were unable to access regular dental care,\u201d they told Medscape News Canada<\/em>. \u201cThis may be a positive reflection of the new policies and initiatives to improve access to primary care providers and the widespread rollout of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan, specifically supporting lower-income older adults.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey was published online on January 20.<\/p>\n The \u201cNIA Ageing in Canada Survey,\u201d now in its fourth year, provides annual snapshots of the perspectives, experiences, and expectations of older Canadian adults. This year\u2019s survey, conducted online from June to July 2025, included a representative sample comprising 6001 Canadians aged 50 years or older who were living in community settings across all provinces and territories. It highlights the \u201cgrowing disconnect between how older Canadians want to age and the supports available to them,\u201d according to NIA.<\/p>\n The report includes the following notable findings:<\/p>\n \u201cThe survey highlights that a subset of older Canadians are healthy, socially connected, and financially prepared for later life, while also underscoring the substantial inequalities among older adults,\u201d Natasha Lane, MD, PhD, assistant professor of geriatric medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told Medscape News Canada<\/em>. \u201cThe financial pressure many older Canadians are experiencing makes it difficult to maintain health, quality of life, and independence at home.\u201d Lane, who did not participate in the study, also is associate editor of the Canadian Geriatrics Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAccess to healthcare services alone is insufficient if older adults are struggling with basic needs such as housing stability, food security, or safe living conditions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Notably, she said, \u201cthe findings likely underrepresent older adults experiencing the most severe forms of socioeconomic hardship, including those who are unhoused or living in extreme poverty, as these groups are less likely to participate in online surveys.\u201d<\/p>\n Although dental care has become more affordable since the introduction of the Canadian Dental Care Program in 2023, she acknowledged, \u201cawareness of the program remains limited, and many older adults are still forgoing dental care due to outdated assumptions about cost. Increased public awareness could help ensure that eligible individuals benefit from existing programs.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey also reinforces evidence that many adverse socioeconomic and health outcomes disproportionately affect older women, who were more likely to report financial insecurity and barriers to accessing care, she said. \u201cThese findings underscore the value of routinely asking how health and social policies affect women and other groups differently as inequities cannot be addressed if they are not measured and acknowledged.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinicians can help by encouraging people of all ages to stay socially connected, Bronstein and Sinha said. \u201cSocial isolation and loneliness in particular can negatively impact people\u2019s health and well-being and even increase their risk for dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinicians also can encourage older adults to find a primary care provider to help them prevent or manage chronic health conditions that become more common with age, they said. \u201cFurthermore, clinicians can remind their patients that taking simple, healthy actions like staying socially connected, managing blood pressure, being physically active, and addressing their hearing and vision issues can not only prevent outcomes like dementia and other chronic health issues but also help improve their overall quality of life as they age.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSocial isolation and loneliness have well documented impacts on health and raise the risk of premature mortality,\u201d they added. \u201cIn fact, severe loneliness has been seen as being equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It is critical that clinicians recognize this as a public health challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgeing in the right place requires coordinated action across all levels of government, alongside civil society, health and social care providers, and community organizations,\u201d the report stated. \u201cWith deliberate, evidence-based policy reform, Canada can embrace its ageing population as an opportunity to create more inclusive, resilient, and compassionate communities for people of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n Funding for the report was provided by Manulife and the Waltons Trust. Lane reported having no relevant financial relationships.<\/em><\/p>\n Marilynn Larkin, MA, is an award-winning medical writer and editor whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including\u00a0<\/em>Medscape Medical News and its sister publication\u00a0<\/em>MDEdge,\u00a0<\/em>The Lancet (where she was a contributing editor), and Reuters Health.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A National Institute on Ageing (NIA) survey revealed social isolation, financial stress, and a steep decline in positive feelings toward ageing among older Canadian adults. Samir Sinha, MD The decline in optimism toward ageing is the steepest since the annual survey began 4 years ago, noted survey authors Talia Bronstein, director of Policy, and Samir […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gty-260128-senior-visit-800x450.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"photo](\"https:\/\/img.medscapestatic.com\/vim\/live\/professional_assets\/medscape\/images\/thumbnail_library\/ht-260128-samir-sinha-120x156.jpg\")
Key Findings<\/h2>\n
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\u2018Substantial Inequities\u2019<\/h2>\n
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What Clinicians Can Do<\/h2>\n
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