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Updated: Sep 25, 2025

Author Spotlight: Assessing the Cardiovascular Profile of Patients with Metabolic Syndrome
Published on: September 27, 2024
Social Relationships, Wealth, and Cardiometabolic Risk: Evidence from a National Longitudinal Study of U.S. Older
Kaitlin Shartle1,2, Yang Claire Yang1,2,3, Laura S Richman4
1Department of Sociology, 169101University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Abstract:
Objectives: To investigate multiple dimensions of social relationships related to biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and how their associations vary by wealth in older adults. Methods: Growth curve models were used to investigate the longitudinal associations between measures of both positive and negative social relationships and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2016 and the moderation of this association by wealth in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Results: Older adults with better social relationships had lower CMR on average. The protective effects of positive social relationships, however, waned at older ages, particularly for low-wealth individuals. Discussion: Our results suggest that good social relationships promote healthy aging by buffering against harmful cardiometabolic consequences of psychosocial stress, particularly among relatively wealthy individuals. Efforts to improve old age health would be more effective when focusing simultaneously on fostering social connections and boosting financial resources.
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