Rogers Nina Trivedy, Demakakos Panayotes, Taylor Mark Steven, Steptoe Andrew, Hamer Mark, Shankar Aparna
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
Department of Public Health, Fakulta Zdravotnictva a Socialnej Prace, University of Trnava, Trnava, Slovakia Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2016 Jun;70(6):583-8. doi: 10.1136/jech-2015-206305. Epub 2016 Jan 25.
Volunteering has been linked to reduced mortality in older adults, but the mechanisms explaining this effect remain unclear. This study investigated whether volunteering is associated with increased survival in participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and whether differences in survival are modified by functional disabilities.
A multivariate Cox Proportional Hazards model was used to estimate the association of volunteering with survival over a period of 10.9 years in 10 324 participants, while controlling for selected confounders. To investigate effect modification by disability, the analyses were repeated in participants with and without self-reported functional disabilities.
Volunteering was associated with a reduced probability of death from all causes in univariate analyses (HR=0.65, CI 0.58 to 0.73, p<0.0001), but adjustment for covariates rendered this association non-significant (HR=0.90, CI 0.79 to 1.01, p=0.07). Able-bodied volunteers had significantly increased survival compared with able-bodied non-volunteers (HR=0.81, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.95, p=0.009). There was no significant survival advantage among disabled volunteers, compared with disabled non-volunteers (HR=1.06, CI 0.88 to 1.29, p=0.53).
Volunteering is associated with reduced mortality in older adults in England, but this effect appears to be limited to volunteers who report no disabilities.
志愿服务与老年人死亡率降低有关，但解释这种效应的机制尚不清楚。本研究调查了志愿服务是否与英国老年纵向研究参与者的生存率提高有关，以及生存率的差异是否因功能残疾而有所改变。
使用多变量Cox比例风险模型来估计10324名参与者在10.9年期间志愿服务与生存之间的关联，同时控制选定的混杂因素。为了研究残疾对效应的修正作用，对有和没有自我报告功能残疾的参与者重复进行分析。
在单变量分析中，志愿服务与全因死亡概率降低有关（风险比=0.65，置信区间0.58至0.73，p<0.0001），但在对协变量进行调整后，这种关联变得不显著（风险比=0.90，置信区间0.79至1.01，p=0.07）。与身体健全的非志愿者相比，身体健全的志愿者生存率显著提高（风险比=0.81，95%置信区间0.69至0.95，p=0.009）。与残疾非志愿者相比，残疾志愿者没有显著的生存优势（风险比=1.06，置信区间0.88至1.29，p=0.53）。
在英国，志愿服务与老年人死亡率降低有关，但这种效应似乎仅限于报告无残疾的志愿者。
