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Published on: February 2, 2020
Do older people benefit from having a confidant? An Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) study
Frank H Lawler1, James W Mold, Laine H McCarthy
1Department of Family Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City 73104, USA. flawlermd@sib.ok.gov
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.
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.
Results:
Initially, 740 participants (87%) had a confidant. Being married was strongly associated with having a confidant (91.9% vs. 77.8%, p<0.0001). A confidant was associated with better SF-36 domain scores (p<0.0001), less morbidity, higher baseline QWB-SA scores and favorable changes in QWB-SA (p<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).
Conclusions:
Older people with a confidant demonstrated enhanced HRQoL maintenance over the short term, but not greater survival.
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