Personal networks and mortality risk in older adults: a twenty-year longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Research on aging has consistently demonstrated an increased chance of survival for older adults who are integrated into rich networks of social relationships. Theoretical explanations state that personal networks offer indirect psychosocial and direct physiological pathways. We investigate whether effects on and pathways to mortality risk differ between functional and structural characteristics of the personal network. The objective is to inquire which personal network characteristics are the best predictors of mortality risk after adjustment for mental, cognitive and physical health.

Methods and findings

Empirical tests were carried out by combining official register information on mortality with data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). The sampl

SUBMITTER: Ellwardt L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4348168 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature