A biosocial approach to healthy ageing: the interplay between social isolation and inflammation
Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Background: An individual’s social relationships are consistently shown to be associated with many aspects of health, especially in the context of healthy ageing. Social isolation of older adults is associated with mortality and a range of mental and physical health problems. One possible mechanism implicated in the process of social isolation affecting health is chronic inflammation, a widespread phenomenon in older people that is a known risk factor for a wide range of health conditions. / \n \nMethods: Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) was used to explore the associations between social isolation and intrinsic capacity, and whether inflammation was a mediator of this relationship. First, a measure of healthy ageing was operationalised based upon the intrinsic capacity (IC), which refers to capacity in 5 domains of function: cognition, locomotion, sensory, vitality, and psychological. Item response theory was used to generate an IC score in three waves of ELSA spanning 8 years. Latent growth curve models tested the association between social isolation and intrinsic capacity before cross-lagged panel models were used to test the possible mediation effect of inflammation, both using full information maximum likelihood to handle missing data. / \n \nResults: The novel IC score was associated with key sociodemographic and health-related covariates and predicted subsequent difficulties with ADLs and IADLs, hospital admission and mortality. Lower social isolation was associated with higher baseline levels of IC but a steeper decline in IC over time. Inflammation was not found to mediate the association between social isolation and IC, but a bidirectional relationship between inflammation and IC was uncovered. / \n \nConclusions: Inflammation is not likely a key mechanism for social isolation to affect healthy ageing. Policy to reduce social isolation may not slow declines in health but could give older adults a better “starting point” and, therefore, more time in better health.
Author: Campbell, Charlotte L
Institution: University College London
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6989677116