ArticleArchives of gerontology and geriatrics2023
Social networks, social support, and life expectancy in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study.
Article in Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Joint trajectories of physical frailty and social relationships and associated long-term care needs among Japanese community-dwelling older adults: a 6-year longitudinal study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Social support and associated factors among community-dwelling older adults in Singapore - a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Development of a Prediction Model for Community-Dwelling Older Adults at Risk of Long-Term Care with Dementia.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Rethinking biological resilience of older adults under climate change: an integrative perspective from planetary health and cultural ethics.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Adult Friendship and Suicidality: A Scoping Review.Journal of social and personal relationships · 2025Article
- Social Networks as a Key Health Determinant in Acute Illness Recovery: A Lesson from the COVID-19 Pandemic.The American journal of medicine · 2025Article
- The Mediating Effect of Social Networks on the Impact of Health Perceptions on the Quality of Life in Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Digital literacy and its effects on older adults' health: exploring mechanisms and outcomes.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Promoting healthy aging through intergenerational exchange and digital empowerment: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The pitfalls of focusing on cardiovascular disease mortality to explain differences in life expectancy.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Association between Cognitive Reserve Indicator and Chronic Disease-Free Survival: A Large Community-Based Longitudinal Study.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2024Article
- One-Year Survival after Cardiac Surgery in Frail Older People-Social Support Matters: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSocial support and social networks have long been postulated to impact health outcomes but their impact on life expectancy and disability in older adults remains poorly quantified.
methodsAs part of the Cardiovascular Health Study, we followed 5,749 adults aged 65 years and older from 4 US field centers for 25 years. We assessed the Lubben social network score [range 0-50] and a social support score [range 0-24] derived from the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL-12) in two consecutive years starting at study recruitment. We used remaining years of life (YOL) from study enrollment to death to approximate life expectancy. We defined years of active life (YAL) as the number of study years in which participants lived without any difficulties in activities of daily living. We used compression of disability to reflect the proportion of life lived able (YAL/YOL). We used linear regression to adjust for socio-demographics and comorbidity.
resultsThe mean (standard deviation [SD]) scores were 32.3 ± 6.8 points for social network score and 8.3 ± 2.4 points for social support score. For every 1-SD increase in social network score, adjusted participant life expectancy was 0.40 years higher (95% CI 0.22-0.58; p<0.0001) and disability-free life expectancy 0.35 years higher (95% CI 0.18-0.53; p<0.0001). The association with life expectancy was modified by participant age (p<0.001), but it remained significant even among participants aged ≥75 years (3 months per SD; 95% CI 0.1-6 months, p = 0.04). Further adjustment for frailty did not attenuate the estimates. The social support scale was not significantly associated with YOL or YAL after adjustment for social network score, and neither measure was associated with compression of disability. DISCUSSION: In older adults, higher social network scores are significantly associated with longer life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.