Abstract
Despite some evidence showing an association between social factors, such as relationships and support, and reduced mortality risk, a consensus on a clinically relevant measure of social wellbeing in later older age remains elusive. The aim was to derive a longitudinal measure of social wellbeing using data from a rare cohort study of the older old, the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C) and test its time-varying association with all-cause mortality. Social relationships, network, support, and participation scores were derived in addition to an overall index of wellbeing at each of the 10 waves of follow-up. Adjusted Cox regression models were used in time-to-event analysis. Missing data were handled using multiple imputation and longitudinal inverse probability weights. A higher score of social relationships, rather than network (i.e., quality vs quantity of contacts), and a higher level of social participation were associated with lower hazard ratios of all-cause mortality. A higher score of informal social support was associated with a higher hazard ratio, implying that the higher the need for support, the higher the risk of dying. The overall social wellbeing index score was significantly associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality. The findings provide further longitudinal evidence on the strong association between social wellbeing and mortality in the oldest old, with further associations with its component scores. Future research can derive a similar measure of wellbeing for benchmarking purposes, particularly for community-based interventions that need to capture social wellbeing constructs that relate to older people’s lives.
Presenters
Sarah AssaadPhD Candidate, Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Ageing, Mortality, Social Wellbeing, Relationships, Support, Network, Participation, UK
