Social network, social support and unplanned hospital admission in older patients with cancer.

Abstract

201 Background: Cancer incidence is rising as the number of older adults increases. Lack of social support has been found to predict mortality among cancer patients. Emotional support has been reported to be the most desirable type of social support. Methods: The data was collected prospectively, and analysis conducted in a retrospective manner, in a cohort of older adults seen at the Program for Healthy Aging at the MD Anderson Cancer Center between Jan 2013 and December 2015. Demographics, cancer diagnosis, and other geriatric conditions were diagnosed and collected during comprehensive geriatric assessments. Social supports were measured through self-report RAND’s Medical Outcomes study (MOS) questionnaires. Overall social support and sub domains (emotional, informational, tangible, affectionate, and positive interaction) were scored. Outcomes including unplanned hospital admission were collected through reviewing of medical records. Pearson chi-square or the Fisher exact tests were used to compare groups on admission. Logistic regressions were used to investigate the relative contribution of social network and social supports for unplanned hospital admission. Results: Among 132 patients who were included in the analysis, 49(37%) patients had unplanned hospital admissions, and the overall social support score was 86%. Cancer type -hematologic versus solid tumors- demonstrated a stronger association with hospitalizations than social support. The subdomains of tangible support, positive interaction, and affection support were different between two groups. Tangible support had an odd ratio of 10.6 (p = 0.026) in unplanned hospital admission, after adjusting for cancer type, cancer stage, and cognitive status. In our study population, patients who receive more social support were more likely to be hospitalized. Conclusions: Among older cancer patients, those who receive more social support are more likely to be hospitalized. Further studies that correlate with health outcomes may be meaningful to develop strategies or interventions to improve clinical practices, to enhance quality of life and meaningful survival in elderly cancer patients.