Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.
<h4>Background</h4>The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.<h4>Objectives</h4>This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relation...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2010-07-01
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| Series: | PLoS Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20668659/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1830199694183104512 |
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| author | Julianne Holt-Lunstad Timothy B Smith J Bradley Layton |
| author_facet | Julianne Holt-Lunstad Timothy B Smith J Bradley Layton |
| author_sort | Julianne Holt-Lunstad |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.<h4>Objectives</h4>This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.<h4>Data extraction</h4>Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.<h4>Results</h4>Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (p<0.001); the association was strongest for complex measures of social integration (OR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.63 to 2.23) and lowest for binary indicators of residential status (living alone versus with others) (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.44).<h4>Conclusions</h4>The influence of social relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:19:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9833ba608474b048444b92ae7ee48ad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1549-1277 1549-1676 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:19:21Z |
| publishDate | 2010-07-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9833ba608474b048444b92ae7ee48ad2022-12-21T21:24:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Medicine1549-12771549-16762010-07-0177e100031610.1371/journal.pmed.1000316Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.Julianne Holt-LunstadTimothy B SmithJ Bradley Layton<h4>Background</h4>The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.<h4>Objectives</h4>This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.<h4>Data extraction</h4>Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.<h4>Results</h4>Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (p<0.001); the association was strongest for complex measures of social integration (OR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.63 to 2.23) and lowest for binary indicators of residential status (living alone versus with others) (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.44).<h4>Conclusions</h4>The influence of social relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20668659/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Julianne Holt-Lunstad Timothy B Smith J Bradley Layton Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine |
| title | Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. |
| title_full | Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. |
| title_fullStr | Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. |
| title_short | Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. |
| title_sort | social relationships and mortality risk a meta analytic review |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20668659/pdf/?tool=EBI |
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