According to the demographic study led by researchers from the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and published in the journal PLOS ONE , having an active social life improves the quality of life of older people with chronic disabilities where, in addition, family income or income educational level only affect the risk of death in a secondary, circumstantial way. The work thus introduces a new approach that will improve knowledge about patient care and public policies.
“This premise allows us to overcome the complexity of combining individual trajectories, which has traditionally prevented both generalizations for the entire population and improved knowledge of the impact of socioeconomic factors after the onset of disability,” explains Diego Ramiro, director of the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography and coordinator of the study.
The results of the research indicate that those older people with some type of chronic disease – that is, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cardiovascular diseases, which represent the main cause of death in disability in the world – who have the ability Successfully carrying out daily activities, such as visiting relatives or taking a walk, and doing it on a daily basis, have very positive effects on their life expectancy.
Study
The research took as a starting point data on the onset and severity of chronic disability of a group of older people in Spain in order to identify their health careers. After typifying the affected patients, the researchers analyzed the factors that influenced the risk of death during the five years following an initial assessment of their health status.
Of the three population groups examined (mild onset of disability, severe early – from 60 years of age – and severe late – beginning of disability at 70 years of age), all of them showed that the ability to perform daily activities, such as passing the afternoon with his relatives, had very positive effects on his life expectancy.
Caveats
Family income and educational level had a small effect on the first group, who experienced a mild onset of disability ; However, these same values only marginally affected the risk of death in both the “severe early” and “severe late” groups, where the onset of chronic disability is experienced in both cases in old age. The results were the same for both men and women.
“This finding is relevant for the investigation of health inequalities. More studies are needed to confirm these findings and the importance of the socioeconomic context in the evolution of disability and survival ”, explains Antonio Abellán, co-author of the study.
“Socioeconomic differences between population groups, in general, play a very important role in health and risk of death. It is a statement already studied that, the lower the socioeconomic status, the higher the risk of death. But we point out that the appearance of disability in old age is more equal to individuals after its appearance, regardless of previous socioeconomic conditions ” , concludes the expert.
Referencia: The effects of socioeconomic conditions on old-age mortality within shared disability pathways Mathias Voigt, Antonio Abellán, Julio Pérez, Diego Ramiro Published: September 3, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238204
