Social connections, diabetes mellitus, and risk of mortality among white and African-American adults aged 70 and older: an eight-year follow-up study

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the independent and joint effects of having a lack of social connections (LSC) and diabetes mellitus (DM) on the risk of mortality among older white and African-American (AA) adults.

Methods: Data (N = 9246) from the Second Longitudinal Study of Aging was used. LSC score was created by the use of seven social connection measures. Subjects with a score ≥90% of the distribution in the total sample were classified having LSC.

Results: Subjects with LSC, DM, or both had significantly greater risks of death. After multiple covariates were adjusted, the hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) of death in those with both LSC and DM were 2.45 (2.43-2.47) in white men, and 2.95 (2.91-2.99) in AA men. The corresponding values were 2.72 (2.70-2.73) in white women and 3.13 (3.09-3.18) in AA women. Those who had LSC but had no DM, had a similar survival trend to those who had DM only.

Conclusions: The risk of LSC for mortality is similar to DM. Both factors are independent predictors of death among white and AA adults. In addition to controlling disease risks, improvement of social connections may offer new insights to the reduction of mortality among older adults.