Stability and change in structural social relations as predictor of mortality among elderly women and men

In a follow-up study of 70-95years old women and men (n = 911) we studied t he association between change and stability in three structural aspects of social relations (contact frequency, contact diversity, cohabitation status ) from 1986-1990 and mortality after the next four years in 1994. Women age d 70-74 years who developed low contact frequency or developed small contac t diversity showed significantly higher mortality, adjusted ORfreq: 3.78 (1 .08-13.20), adjusted ORdiv: 3.79 (1.24-11.58). Women aged 70-74 years with continuously low contact frequency showed an increased mortality compared t o women constantly experiencing high contact frequency, adjusted OR: 2.75 ( 1.04-7.26). A tendency in the same direction for sustained small contact di versity was found, adjusted OR: 1.98 (0.70-5.61). Among women aged 75+ year s no impact of frequency and diversity was demonstrated, whereas continuous ly living alone was a significant predictor of mortality, when compared to women continuously living with somebody, adjusted OR: 2.57 (1.29-5.09). In men, we found a significantly increased mortality among those who developed high contact frequency and developed large contact diversity ORfreq: 3.91 (1.02-14.94) and ORdiv: 6.04 (1.30-28.03). In summary, we found rather larg er age differences in the strength of the association between change in str uctural social relations and mortality. Furthermore, the associations seeme d stronger among women than men, which may however mainly be explained by t he small number of men in our cohort.