Department of Family and Community Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, 90 Hope Drive, #2120E, MC A172, P.O. Box 855, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA.
College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2024 Aug 20;22(1):67. doi: 10.1186/s12955-024-02281-8.
The number of older adults who are cancer survivors is rapidly growing. Evidence is needed to inform interventions to support successful aging among older adults (including older adult cancer survivors). Active engagement with life, that is, spending time with family and/or close friends, may be related to health outcomes, but this concept remains understudied.
We used survey data to assess active engagement among older adults (ages 50 + years) from seven mid-Atlantic US states (n = 2,914), and geocoded their residence to collect collected measures of community availability of social interaction. Outcomes were physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL), assessed with the SF-12. We used multivariable, multilevel linear regression to evaluate relationships between social interactions (i.e., "active engagement with life," or visiting with family and/or friends at least once per week and having at least three close friends, and community-level availability, measured with census tract-level park land and walkability and with county-level availability of social associations) and HRQoL. Finally, we explored differences in these relationships by recent cancer survivorship.
Overall, 1,518 (52.3%) participants were actively engaged. Active engagement was associated with higher physical HRQoL (estimate = 0.94, standard error [SE] = 0.46, p = .04) and mental HRQoL (estimate = 2.10, SE = 0.46, p < .001). The relationship between active engagement and physical HRQoL was stronger for recent cancer survivors (estimate = 4.95, SE = 1.84, p < .01) than for the general population (estimate = 1.10, SE = 0.43, p = .01). Community-level availability of social interaction was not associated with HRQoL.
Our analysis demonstrated promising associations between active engagement with life and HRQoL among older adults, with large benefits for older cancer survivors. Additional research is needed on how active engagement is associated with better HRQoL, which can inform future policies and programs to optimize the aging process in the US.
癌症幸存者中老年人的数量正在迅速增长。需要有证据来为干预措施提供信息，以支持老年人（包括老年癌症幸存者）的成功老龄化。积极参与生活，即与家人和/或亲密朋友共度时光，可能与健康结果有关，但这一概念仍未得到充分研究。
我们使用调查数据评估了来自美国七个中大西洋州（n=2914 人）的 50 岁及以上老年人的积极参与度，并对他们的居住地进行地理编码，以收集社交互动的社区可用性测量值。结果是身体和心理健康相关的生活质量（HRQoL），用 SF-12 评估。我们使用多变量、多层次线性回归来评估社会互动（即“积极参与生活”，或每周至少与家人和/或朋友见面一次，并有至少三个亲密朋友，以及社区层面的可用性，用普查区层面的公园用地和可步行性以及县层面的社交协会可用性来衡量）与 HRQoL 之间的关系。最后，我们通过最近的癌症生存状况来探索这些关系的差异。
总体而言，有 1518 名（52.3%）参与者积极参与。积极参与与更高的身体 HRQoL（估计值=0.94，标准误差[SE]=0.46，p=0.04）和心理 HRQoL（估计值=2.10，SE=0.46，p<0.001）相关。积极参与与身体 HRQoL 的关系对于最近的癌症幸存者（估计值=4.95，SE=1.84，p<0.01）比一般人群（估计值=1.10，SE=0.43，p=0.01）更强。社区层面的社交互动可用性与 HRQoL 无关。
我们的分析表明，生活中积极参与与老年人的 HRQoL 之间存在有希望的关联，对于老年癌症幸存者有较大的益处。需要进一步研究积极参与与更好的 HRQoL 之间的关系，这可以为未来的政策和计划提供信息，以优化美国的老龄化进程。
