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Loneliness as a predictor of quality of life among older caregivers Aim. This paper reports a study investigating quality of life in relation to loneliness, caregiving, social network, gender, age and economic status among caregiving men and women in a population-based sample aged 75 years or older. Background. Because of demographic changes, in the future more care for older people will be given by informal caregivers who are themselves older. Being old and caring for another older person may affect various aspects of life, such as physical and emotional health and decreased time for respite, which may affect social life and quality of life. Method. A postal questionnaire including the Short Form Health Survey was used. The sample consisted of 4278 people, aged 75 years and over, living in Sweden. Of these, 783 (18%) were caregivers. Findings. Caregivers had a larger social network and reported feelings of loneliness less often than non-caregivers. Forty per cent of caregivers helped every day. There were gender differences in experiences of loneliness during the last year, with th