Objective  To examine the prevalence of loneliness and its correlation with parent-child support among older and oldest old persons and to provide evidences for implementing relevant interventions.

  Methods  We recruited 3 448 residents aged ≥ 75 years from communities covered by 10 community health care centers in Tangshan city of Hebei province with stratified cluster random sampling; then we conducted a face-to-face household survey among the residents with the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale from July 2016 to January 2017.

  Results  Of the 3 448 participants, 1 071 (21.9 %), 1 664 (50.2 %), and 713 (27.9 %) were assessed as having low, moderate, and high level of loneliness, with the mean overall loneliness scores of 28.33 ± 4.096, 41.86 ± 4.262, and 54.38 ± 3.360 for the participants with various level of loneliness and the mean overall score of 40.24 ± 10.225 for all the participants, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that the influencing factors of loneliness among the participants included age (80 – 85 years old vs. 75 – 79 years old: odds ratio OR = 1.212; 80 – 85 years old vs. 75 – 79 years old: OR = 1.365), education level (college and above vs. illiterate: OR = 0.478), relationship between the participants and their children (harmony vs. good relation: OR = 1.952; harmony vs. general relation: OR = 3.261) whether being visited alternately by their children (no vs. yes: OR = 1.318), whether being ignored by their children (no vs. yes: OR = 0.629), whether being helped in time by their children when needed (no vs. yes: OR = 1.828), and whether the children having been taken their advice (frequently vs. never: OR = 0.313).

  Conclusion  Aloneness is prevalence among older and oldest old persons in Tangshan city of Hebei province and the promotion of family intergeneration support to the elderly populations may improve the situation.