OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine whether having a confidant was associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) or survival in older, community-dwelling individuals. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 23 family physician members of the Oklahoma Physicians Research/Resource Network in 9 practices and 852 community-dwelling adults 65 or older participating in the Oklahoma Longitudinal Assessment of Health Outcomes of Mature Adults Studies. Longitudinal models analyzed changes in self-administered Quality of Well-Being (QWB-SA) scores over an average (S.D.) of 2.51 (1.28) years. Cox proportional hazards models assessed variables possibly associated with mortality over an average survival time (+/-S.D.) of 9.22 (3.24) years. We controlled for chronic illnesses, baseline age, gender, marital status, income, race, BMI, education and specified Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) domain scores. RESULTS: Initially, 740 participants (87%) had a confidant. Being married was strongly associated with having a confidant (91.9% vs. 77.8%, p<0.0001). A confidant was associated with better SF-36 domain scores (p<0.0001), less morbidity, higher baseline QWB-SA scores and favorable changes in QWB-SA (p<0.0001). Unadjusted risk of death (37.8% vs 46.4%, p=0.08) was not lower. Kaplan-Meier confidant status survival curves were not statistically different (p=0.16). CONCLUSIONS: Older people with a confidant demonstrated enhanced HRQoL maintenance over the short term, but not greater survival.
OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine whether having a confidant was associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) or survival in older, community-dwelling individuals. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 23 family physician members of the Oklahoma Physicians Research/Resource Network in 9 practices and 852 community-dwelling adults 65 or older participating in the Oklahoma Longitudinal Assessment of Health Outcomes of Mature Adults Studies. Longitudinal models analyzed changes in self-administered Quality of Well-Being (QWB-SA) scores over an average (S.D.) of 2.51 (1.28) years. Cox proportional hazards models assessed variables possibly associated with mortality over an average survival time (+/-S.D.) of 9.22 (3.24) years. We controlled for chronic illnesses, baseline age, gender, marital status, income, race, BMI, education and specified Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) domain scores. RESULTS: Initially, 740 participants (87%) had a confidant. Being married was strongly associated with having a confidant (91.9% vs. 77.8%, p<0.0001). A confidant was associated with better SF-36 domain scores (p<0.0001), less morbidity, higher baseline QWB-SA scores and favorable changes in QWB-SA (p<0.0001). Unadjusted risk of death (37.8% vs 46.4%, p=0.08) was not lower. Kaplan-Meier confidant status survival curves were not statistically different (p=0.16). CONCLUSIONS: Older people with a confidant demonstrated enhanced HRQoL maintenance over the short term, but not greater survival.
Authors: Natalie Slopen; Benjamin Le Cook; Justin Winston Morgan; Michael William Flores; Camila Mateo; Cynthia Garcia Coll; Dolores Acevedo Garcia; Naomi Priest; Elaine Wethington; Esther Lee; Margo Moyer; Nathaniel M Tran; Sandra Krumholz; David R Williams Journal: Children (Basel) Date: 2022-03-23
Authors: Aung Zaw Zaw Phyo; Rosanne Freak-Poli; Heather Craig; Danijela Gasevic; Nigel P Stocks; David A Gonzalez-Chica; Joanne Ryan Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2020-11-06 Impact factor: 3.295