Lonely at the bottom: a cross-sectional study on being ill, poor, and lonely

Highlights • The aim was to examine whether ill people with a low income report less social resources than ill people with a high income. • Ill people in the lowest income group at least twice as often reported severe loneliness and very few contacts. • The findings paint a (socially) alienated picture of life in a substantial number of poor and ill people. • Findings are discussed in the context of people in many countries becoming increasingly dependent upon their social networks.