Active social engagement and health among older adults: assessing differences by cancer survivorship status

The number of older adults who are cancer survivors is rapidly growing. Evidence is needed to inform interventions to support successful aging among older adults (including older adult cancer survivors). Active engagement with life, that is, spending time with family and/or close friends, may be related to health outcomes, but this concept remains understudied.

We used survey data to assess active engagement among older adults (ages 50 + years) from seven mid-Atlantic US states (n = 2,914), and geocoded their residence to collect collected measures of community availability of social interaction. Outcomes were physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL), assessed with the SF-12. We used multivariable, multilevel linear regression to evaluate relationships between social interactions (i.e., "active engagement with life," or visiting with family and/or friends at least once per week and having at least three close friends, and community-level availability, measured with census tract-level park land and walkability and with county-level availability of social associations) and HRQoL. Finally, we explored differences in these relationships by recent cancer survivorship.

Overall, 1,518 (52.3%) participants were actively engaged. Active engagement was associated with higher physical HRQoL (estimate = 0.94, standard error [SE] = 0.46, p = .04) and mental HRQoL (estimate = 2.10, SE = 0.46, p < .001). The relationship between active engagement and physical HRQoL was stronger for recent cancer survivors (estimate = 4.95, SE = 1.84, p < .01) than for the general population (estimate = 1.10, SE = 0.43, p = .01). Community-level availability of social interaction was not associated with HRQoL.

Our analysis demonstrated promising associations between active engagement with life and HRQoL among older adults, with large benefits for older cancer survivors. Additional research is needed on how active engagement is associated with better HRQoL, which can inform future policies and programs to optimize the aging process in the US.