Social relationships and survival in the older adult cohort.
Mariangela Uhlmann Soares, Luiz Augusto Facchini, Fúlvio Borges Nedel and 3 others
PMID 33439948WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults who went out daily had 39% lower death risk, and party attendance had 17% lower risk, after accounting for other factors.
Functional difficulty with daily activities was linked to 95% higher risk. These are associations, not proof.
Key findings
01After accounting for other factors, older adults who went out every day had a 39% lower mortality risk.
02After accounting for other factors, older adults who went to parties had a 17% lower risk of death.
03After accounting for other factors, older adults with functional difficulty for daily activities had a 95% higher risk of death than those without difficulty.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was an observational cohort, not a trial, so it cannot show that going out or attending parties caused lower mortality. Only 735 of the 1,314 located participants were interviewed again, and 198 were losses, so follow-up was incomplete. The sample came from one municipality in southern Brazil, so results may not apply elsewhere. Exposure questions were collected by interview, and some people needed a companion or could not answer all questions. Several interactions were tested, and some associations changed depending on combinations such as gender and household size.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 39% lower risk for daily going out or the 17% lower risk for party attendance as proof that increasing social activity prevents death. This was an observational cohort, not a trial of an intervention, and older adults who were healthier or less disabled may have been more able to go out.