Contingent association between the social support network size and osteoporosis among elderly Korean women

Lee Seungwon, Youm Yoosik, Seo Da Hea, Kim Kyoung Min, Lee Eun Young,
Kim Hyeon Chang, Kim Chang oh, Rhee Yumie
Korean Urban Rural Elderly Study
Lee Joung Won, Kim Won-Ho
Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Center for Biomedical Science, KNIH, KCDC

Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between the number of personal ties (the size of the social support network) and the incidence of osteoporosis among older women in Korea.
Methods/results: Data from 1,846 older women from the Korean Urban Rural Elderly Study were included in this study. Osteoporosis was diagnosed using the criteria of a t-score under –2.5. The social support network size was measured through participants’ self-responses (number of confidants and spouse). The association between the social support network size and the incidence of osteoporosis was contingent on the average intimacy level of the social network. At the highest average intimacy level, increasing the number of social support network members from one to six was associated with a linear decrease in the predicted probability of osteoporosis from 45% to 30%. However, at the lowest average intimacy level, the predicted probability of osteoporosis dramatically increased from 48% to 80% as the size of the social network increased from one to six.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that the maintenance of a large and intimate social support network is associated with a lower risk of osteoporosis among elderly Korean women. Conversely, a large but less-intimate social network is associated with a higher risk of osteoporosis.

Keywords: Social support, Osteoporosis, Bone density, Geriatrics