EFECTO PROTECTOR DEL APOYO SOCIAL EN LA MORTALIDAD EN POBLACIÓN ANCIANA: UN ESTUDIO LONGITUDINAL

Résumé 0

"Preventive Effect of Social Support onmortality Among Elderly Population: ALongitudinal StudyBackground: The main objective of this study is to analyzethe relationship between social support and the mortalityamong a non-institutionalized population cohort age 60 or aboveresiding in Barcelona studied throughout the 1996-1999 monitoringperiod for the purpose of analyzing the relationshipbetween the social support and the mortality of this cohort.Methods: In 1996, a telephone survey was conducted of755 individuals (316 males and 439 females) who had beensurveyed in the 1992 Barcelona health survey and who, wereage 60 or above that year. The questionnaire included socio-demographic,morbility and health condition, social support andsocial network-related variables. The deaths during the1996-1999 period were recorded. Logic regression was usedfor analyzing the social support- mortality relationship.Results: The deaths for the period in question totaled 55 individuals(5.9% of the females and 9.2% of the males). Amongthe variables reflecting social support, for the males solely thesituation of living with someone was found, in the bivariateanalysis, to have a significant relationship to the mortality,which was higher for those males who lived with other familymembers, but not with their wives or female partner (OR=3.7;IC 95% 1.4-9.6). Among the females, the existence of supportfrom neighbors, the size of the family network, the number ofcontacts with the community network and the situation of livingwith someone else were related to the mortality in the bivariateanalysis, although in the multivariate logic regression,solely the support of neighbors (OR=3.6; IC:1.1-11.1) wasfound to have a significant relationship.Conclusions: The results are consistent with prior studiesrevealing a relationship between the social support variablesand the mortality. The relationship between the different socialsupport variables and the possible prevention mechanismsshould be taken up in future studies."