Do Older People Benefit from Having a Confidant? An Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) Study

作者：Lawler Frank H^*; Mold James W; McCarthy Laine H

来源：Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 2013, 26(1): 9-15.

DOI：10.3122/jabfm.2013.01.120051

• Aged
• Elderly
• Interpersonal Relations
• Practice-based Research
• Primary Health Care

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. %26lt;br%26gt;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. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: Initially, 740 participants (87%) had a confidant. Being married was strongly associated with having a confidant (91.9% vs. 77.8%, p%26lt;0.0001). A confidant was associated with better SF-36 domain scores (p%26lt;0.0001), less morbidity, higher baseline QWB-SA scores and favorable changes in QWB-SA (p%26lt;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). %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions: Older people with a confidant demonstrated enhanced HRQoL maintenance over the short term, but not greater survival. (J Am Board Fam Med 2013;26:9-15.)

• 出版日期2013-2