ArticlePreventive medicine reports2026
The asymmetric effect of social connection and the cumulative damage of comorbidities on physical and mental health of older Virginians.
Article in Preventive medicine reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: This study explored relationships of social connection with physical and mental health in older adults, specifically examining the effects of comorbidities on these relationships and the influence of sociodemographic variables on the strength of these associations. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 174 community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older residing in Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA. Data were collected from April to August 2025. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined the associations of social connection with physical and mental health. Moderated mediation analysis examined if comorbidities mediated these relationships and whether sociodemographic factors moderate the strengths of these associations. Results: In hierarchical linear regression models, comorbidity burden was significantly associated with poorer mental and physical health, explaining an additional 3% and 10% of the variance, respectively, beyond sociodemographic factors. Moderated mediation analysis revealed social connection had an indirect effect on mental health, where social connection was associated with higher comorbidities, which in turn was associated with poorer mental health, among Black relative to White participants (b = -0.80, 95% CI = -1.85, -0.02). Conclusion: A conditional indirect pathway linked social connection to mental health through comorbidity burden among Black older adults, though the incremental contribution of social connection was minimal.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.