Loprinzi Paul D, Ford M Allison
Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management, The University of Mississippi, University, MS.
Diabetes Spectr. 2018 May;31(2):189-192. doi: 10.2337/ds17-0056.
Previous work demonstrates that social support is inversely associated with mortality risk. Less research, however, has examined the effects of the size of the social support network on mortality risk among those with and without diabetes, which was the purpose of this study.
Data from the 1999-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used, with participants followed through 2011. This study included 1,412 older adults (≥60 years of age) with diabetes and 5,872 older adults without diabetes. The size of the social support network was assessed via self-report and reported as the number of participants' close friends.
Among those without diabetes, various levels of social support network size were inversely associated with mortality risk. However, among those with diabetes, only those with a high social support network size (i.e., at least six close friends) had a reduced risk of all-cause mortality. That is, compared to those with zero close friends, those with diabetes who had six or more close friends had a 49% reduced risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 0.51, 95% CI 0.27-0.94).
To mitigate mortality risk, a greater social support network size may be needed for those with diabetes.
先前的研究表明，社会支持与死亡风险呈负相关。然而，较少有研究探讨社会支持网络规模对糖尿病患者和非糖尿病患者死亡风险的影响，本研究旨在对此进行探讨。
使用1999 - 2008年美国国家健康与营养检查调查的数据，对参与者随访至2011年。本研究纳入了1412名60岁及以上的糖尿病老年人和5872名非糖尿病老年人。通过自我报告评估社会支持网络的规模，并将其报告为参与者亲密朋友的数量。
在非糖尿病患者中，不同水平的社会支持网络规模与死亡风险呈负相关。然而，在糖尿病患者中，只有那些社会支持网络规模较大（即至少有六个亲密朋友）的患者全因死亡风险降低。也就是说，与没有亲密朋友的人相比，有六个或更多亲密朋友的糖尿病患者全因死亡风险降低了49%（风险比0.51，95%置信区间0.27 - 0.94）。
为降低死亡风险，糖尿病患者可能需要更大规模的社会支持网络。
