Social support and health of older people in Middle Eastern countries: a systematic review

The aim of this study is to systematically review quantitative studies exploring the association between social support (SS) and the health of older people in Middle Eastern countries. Sixteen electronic databases and other resources were searched to identify studies that met the inclusion criteria of the review. Abstracts of identified papers were screened for relevancy, following which the authors determined eligibility, applied quality criteria and extracted the data. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria. Even allowing for the diversity of the studies included, this review offered strong and consistent evidence for a positive relation between SS and mental health, while there was inconsistent evidence of an association between SS and other health outcomes. The limited evidence for the Middle Eastern region confirms findings from other settings on the importance of SS for mental health in later life. Current evidence is inadequate to assess whether SS is associated with physical health.