title: Do older people benefit from having a confidant? An Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to determine whether having a confidant was associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) or survival in older, community-dwelling individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective cohort study included 23 family physician members of the Oklahoma Physicians Research/Resource Network in 9 practices and 852 community-dwelling adults 65 or older participating in the Oklahoma Longitudinal Assessment of Health Outcomes of Mature Adults Studies. Longitudinal models analyzed changes in self-administered Quality of Well-Being (QWB-SA) scores over an average (S.D.) of 2.51 (1.28) years. Cox proportional hazards models assessed variables possibly associated with mortality over an average survival time (+/-S.D.) of 9.22 (3.24) years. We controlled for chronic illnesses, baseline age, gender, marital status, income, race, BMI, education and specified Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) domain scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Initially, 740 participants (87%) had a confidant. Being married was strongly associated with having a confidant (91.9% vs. 77.8%, p<0.0001). A confidant was associated with better SF-36 domain scores (p<0.0001), less morbidity, higher baseline QWB-SA scores and favorable changes in QWB-SA (p<0.0001). Unadjusted risk of death (37.8% vs 46.4%, p=0.08) was not lower. Kaplan-Meier confidant status survival curves were not statistically different (p=0.16).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older people with a confidant demonstrated enhanced HRQoL maintenance over the short term, but not greater survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City 73104, USA. flawlermd@sib.ok.gov
authors.forename: Frank H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Lawler
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Mold
authors.forename: Laine H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: McCarthy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005190:Family; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate