High social risk and mortality. A prospective study in community-dwelling older adults living in a rural Ecuadorian village

Abstract

High social risk has been associated with mortality, but information on this relationship in remote rural communities is limited. Using the social determinants of health (SDH) specified in the Gijon’s social-familial evaluation scale (SFES), we aimed to assess mortality risk according to levels of social risk in community-dwelling older adults living in rural Ecuador. Following a longitudinal population-based design, this study prospectively followed 457 individuals for an average of 8.2 ± 2.6 years. A total of 115 (25.2 %) individuals died during the study years. The mean Gijon’s SFES score was 9.4 ± 2.8 points among survivors versus 12.3 ± 4 points among those who died (p < 0.001). Separate models using individual SDH components as exposures showed that deficits in family situation, social relationships and support networks were significantly associated with mortality, whereas economic status and housing factors were not. A Cox-proportional hazard model, with the Gijon’s SFES score stratified in tertiles, showed a more than 5-fold increase in mortality among individuals in the third tertile compared with those in first and second tertiles, after adjusting for relevant covariates (HR: 5.36; 95 % C.I.: 3.09 – 9.32). Study results indicate an important contribution of high social risk to mortality, and may help to identify potential interventional targets that are focused on encouraging social interactions, and that may reduce mortality in older adults living in remote settings.