Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of General Practice, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Age Ageing. 2017 Sep 1;46(5):813-820. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afx012.
to investigate how social support affects functional impairment (FI) in late life in a longitudinal approach.
in a multicenter prospective cohort study, subjects in old age (≥75 years at baseline) were interviewed every 1.5 years. Social support was quantified in the follow-up (FU) Waves 2 and 4 (FU Wave 2: n = 2,349; FU Wave 4: n = 1,484). FI was assessed by using the Lawton and Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale.
fixed effects regressions showed that a decrease in social support is associated with FI in the total sample and in both sexes. The effect on FI was most pronounced with the dimension social integration, whereas changes in practical support only affected FI in the total sample and changes in emotional support only affected FI in men.
our findings emphasise the importance of social support for functional status in late life. Thus, strengthening social support in old age might be effective in maintaining functional abilities.
采用纵向研究方法，探究社会支持如何影响老年人的功能障碍。
在一项多中心前瞻性队列研究中，老年受试者（基线时年龄≥75 岁）每 1.5 年接受一次访谈。在随访（FU）第 2 波和第 4 波中对社会支持进行量化（FU 波 2：n=2349；FU 波 4：n=1484）。使用 Lawton 和 Brody 日常生活活动工具评估功能障碍。
固定效应回归显示，社会支持的减少与总样本和两性的功能障碍有关。社会整合维度的影响最为明显，而实际支持的变化仅影响总样本的功能障碍，情感支持的变化仅影响男性的功能障碍。
我们的研究结果强调了社会支持对老年人功能状态的重要性。因此，在老年期增强社会支持可能对维持功能能力有效。
