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 Researchers surveyed 5,362 adults born in 1946 in England, Scotland
and Wales about their social relationships 24 times over several
decades, until they were aged 68 to 69 years. Participants also
reported how often they engaged in recommended preventive health
activities like routine checkups, immunizations, vision and dental
exams, blood pressure and cholesterol assessments and cancer
screenings.
By the time they were 68 to 69 years old, 2,132 people were still
alive and participating in the study, and 44 percent were up to date
on all recommended preventive health services and screenings.
At this point in life, people who weren't married or living with a
romantic partner were 33 percent more likely to be behind on at
least some preventive services and screenings than people who were
married or cohabiting, the study found.
Participants who had few close friends were 51 percent more likely
than those with larger social networks to be behind on preventive
health services and screenings.
"It suggests that if we can intervene to get people more socially
connected, then there may be benefits for their preventive health
care use," said lead study author Mai Stafford of the Health
Foundation in London.
"This is important for patients because taking up opportunities for
checkups like bowel and breast cancer screening, flu jabs and blood
pressure monitoring can help prevent serious illness and may
ultimately prolong life," Stafford, who did the research while at
University College London, said by email.
Social isolation has long been linked to poorer physical and mental
health as people age. The current study offers fresh evidence that
the quality and quantity of close social relationships, and shifts
in these relationships over time, may influence how much people
focus on preventive health, the authors write in The Lancet Public
Health.
In the study, people who experienced increasing quality in their
social connectedness from ages 53 to 69 were 7 percent less likely
to fall behind on preventive services and screenings than those who
had consistently limited social networks.
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Over this same span of time, people who had consistently high levels
of social connectedness were 9 percent less likely to fall behind on
preventive services and screenings than those with limited social
networks, the researchers also found.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how social relationships directly impact use of preventive health
services. It's also possible that these participants in a long-term
research cohort were more actively engaged in their healthcare than
the overall population in the UK, the study authors note.
Even so, there are many reasons why people may have diminished
social connectivity later in life - including widowhood, loss of
work and social roles, and illness and disability - that might
contribute to people falling behind on recommended preventive health
services and screenings, said Gail Mountain, a researcher at the
University of Sheffield and author of an accompanying editorial.
"The ramifications of any one of these factors is evident," Mountain
said by email.
For example, "a woman whose husband has always driven the family car
can find herself challenged by having to use public transport when
widowed; poor mobility in later life can cause significant problems
when trying to get out and about and there can be increased cost if
taxis are required; and loss of lifelong roles can leave an
individual feeling devalued," Mountain said.
"It is clear to me that those who have diminished social connections
for whatever reason are less likely to leave their homes, use public
transport and indeed respond to unexpected requests to attend
hospital appointments," Mountain said.
(This story has been refilled to correct attribution of quotes in
paragraphs 13 and 15 to Mountain)
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2PTODJf and https://bit.ly/2MMbZm0 The Lancet
Public Health, online August 21, 2018.
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