Socioeconomic and Health Characteristics as Predictors of Social Support in Elderly People with Visual Impairment: Evidence from Serbia
-
Natalija Djurovic
,
Snezana Radovanovic
,
Olgica Mihaljevic
,
Jovana Radovanovic
,
Milos Stepovic
,
Marija Kovacevic
,
Katarina Janicijevic
,
Gordana Djordjevic
,
Ognjen Djordjevic
,
Gordana Gajovic
,
Nela Djonovic
,
Tamara Dimovic
,
Nikoleta Janicijevic
,
Milena Maricic
,
Dragan Vasiljevic
,
Viktor Selakovic
Abstract
Background: Social networks and support have an independent and strong influence on health and quality of life at all stages of the life cycle, especially in the elderly. We aimed to determine the level of social support among the elderly population of the Republic of Serbia.
Methods: The survey is part of the fourth Health survey of the population of Serbia, which was conducted in 2019 by the Republic Institute of Statistics with the Institute for Public Health of Serbia "Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut" and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia. The research instrument was standardized questionnaires constructed in accordance with the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS, wave3) and the social support score (Oslo-3 Social Support Scale). For the purposes of this research, data on the population aged 65 and over were used.
Results: In terms of social support, 85.8% of respondents had bad , 13.9% moderate and 0.3% strong. Univariate regression analysis determined that respondents from the territory of Vojvodina had a 1.6 times higher chance of poor social support compared to respondents from southern and eastern Serbia. The probability of bad social support was 1.5 times higher in persons who were never married/cohabiting, persons with secondary education were at 1.6 times higher risk of poor social support compared to persons with higher education. Inactive persons had poor social support 1.4 times more often than employed persons, as well as persons with comorbidities (OR=1.218).
Conclusion: These researches are of great importance for public health because it provides valuable data for the creation of interventions that will intensify activities related to providing adequate social support to the elderly.
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26. Brunes A, B Hansen M, Heir T (2019). Loneliness among adults with visual im-pairment: prevalence, associated factors, and relationship to life satisfaction. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 17(1): 24.
27. Cohen-Mansfield J, Hazan H, Lerman Y, et al (2016). Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualita-tive insights. Int Psychogeriatr, 28(4): 557-576.
28. Heppe ECM, Kef S, de Moor MHM, et al (2020). Loneliness in young adults with a visual impairment: Links with perceived social support in a twenty-year longitu-dinal study. Res Dev Disabil, 101: 103634.
29. Huang AR, Cudjoe TKM, Rebok GW, et al (2024). Hearing and vision impairment and social isolation over 8 years in community-dwelling older adults. BMC Public Health, 24: 779.
30. Jin S, Trope GE, Buys YM, et al (2019). Re-duced social participation among sen-iors with self-reported visual impair-ment and glaucoma. PLoS One, 14: e0218540.
31. Tetteh J, Fordjour G, Ekem-Ferguson G, et al (2020). Visual impairment and social isolation, depression and life satisfac-tion among older adults in Ghana: anal-ysis of the WHO's Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 2. BMJ Open Ophthalmol, 5(1): e000492.
32. Dai WW, Gao JM, He P, et al (2019). The association between socioeconomic sta-tus and visual disability among older adults in China. Int J Ophthalmol, 12(1): 106-113.
33. Chu HY, Chan HS (2022). Loneliness and Social Support among the Middle-Aged and Elderly People with Visual Impair-ment. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 19(21): 14600.
34. Shah K, Frank CR, Ehrlich JR (2020). The association between vision impairment and social participation in community-dwelling adults: a systematic review. Eye (Lond), 34(2): 290-298.
35. Kim H, Koo H, Han E (2021). Socioeco-nomic and physical health status chang-es after visual impairment in Korea us-ing difference-in-difference estimations. Sci Rep, 11(1): 820.
36. Melchiorre MG, Chiatti C, Lamura G, et al (2013). Social support, socio-economic status, health and abuse among older people in seven European countries. PLoS One, 8(1): e54856.
2. Murman DL (2015). The Impact of Age on Cognition. Semin Hear, 36(3): 111-121.
3. Barbaccia V, Bravi L, Murmura F, Savelli E, Viganò E (2022). Mature and Older Adults' Perception of Active Ageing and the Need for Supporting Services: In-sights from a Qualitative Study. Int J En-viron Res Public Health, 19(13): 7660.
4. Chen L, Zhang Z (2022). Community Partic-ipation and Subjective Well-Being of Older Adults: The Roles of Sense of Community and Neuroticism. Int J Envi-ron Res Public Health, 19(6): 3261.
5. Vila J (2021). Social Support and Longevity: Meta-Analysis-Based Evidence and Psy-chobiological Mechanisms. Front Psychol, 12: 717164.
6. Shah SJ, Fang MC, Wannier SR, et al (2022). Association of Social Support With Functional Outcomes in Older Adults Who Live Alone. JAMA Intern Med, 182(1): 26-32.
7. Reynolds CF 3rd, Jeste DV, Sachdev PS, Blazer DG (2022). Mental health care for older adults: recent advances and new directions in clinical practice and research. World Psychiatry, 21(3): 336-363.
8. Dehghankar L, Valinezhad S, Amerzadeh M, et al (2024). Relationship between perceived social support and disability with the mediating role of perceived stress among older adults. BMC Geriatr, 24(1):276.
9. Mick P, Parfyonov M, Wittich W, et al (2018). Associations between sensory loss and social networks, participation, support, and loneliness: Analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Can Fam Physician, 64(1): e33-e41.
10. European Health Interview Survey (EHIS Wave 3)—Methodological Manual, Eu-rostat. 2018. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/8762193/KS-02-18-240-EN-N.pdf/5fa53ed4-4367-41c4-b3f5-260ced9ff2f6 (accessed on 2 June 2024).
11. Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Minsk, June 2016. Available online: https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/pau/age/Active_Ageing_Index/Workshop-2016/07_AAI_in_SerbiaGB.pdf (ac-cessed on 2 June 2024).
12. Stepovic M, Vekic B, Kocic S, et al (2024). Analysis and Forecast of Birth Related Indicators in Selected Balkan and East-ern European Countries. Iran J Public Health, 53(3): 625-633.
13. Ho VH, Schwab IR (2001). Social economic development in the prevention of glob-al blindness. Br J Ophthalmol, 85(6): 653-657.
14. Zhang CQ, Chung PK, Zhang R, Schüz B (2019). Socioeconomic Inequalities in Older Adults' Health: The Roles of Neighborhood and Individual-Level Psychosocial and Behavioral Resources. Front Public Health, 7: 318.
15. McMaughan DJ, Oloruntoba O, Smith ML (2020). Socioeconomic Status and Access to Healthcare: Interrelated Drivers for Healthy Aging. Front Public Health, 8: 231.
16. Whillans J, Nazroo J (2018). Social Inequal-ity and Visual Impairment in Older People. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 73(3):532-542.
17. Huang AR, Roth DL, Cidav T, et al (2023). Social isolation and 9-year dementia risk in community-dwelling Medicare bene-ficiaries in the United States. J Am Geri-atr Soc, 71(3): 765-773.
18. Cudjoe TKM, Roth DL, Szanton SL, et al (2020). The Epidemiology of Social Iso-lation: National Health and Aging Trends Study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 75(1): 107-113.
19. Zhao J, Ellwein LB, Cui H, et al (2010). Prevalence of vision impairment in old-er adults in rural China: the China Nine-Province Survey. Ophthalmology, 117(3): 409-416, 416.e1.
20. Song W, Sun X, Shao Z, et al (2010). Preva-lence and causes of visual impairment in a rural North-east China adult popu-lation: a population-based survey in Bin County, Harbin. Acta Ophthalmol, 88(6): 669-674.
21. Delcourt C, Cougnard-Grégoire A, Boniol M, et al (2014). Lifetime exposure to am-bient ultraviolet radiation and the risk for cataract extraction and age-related macular degeneration: the Alienor Study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 55(11): 7619-7627.
22. Newman-Casey PA, Dayno M, Robin AL (2016). Systematic Review of Educational Interventions to Improve Glaucoma Medication Adherence: an update in 2015. Expert Rev Ophthalmol, 11(1): 5-20.
23. Tomany SC, Wang JJ, Van Leeuwen R, et al (2004). Risk factors for incident age-related macular degeneration: pooled findings from 3 continents. Ophthalmolo-gy, 111(7): 1280-1287.
24. Kuang L, Hu H, Xiang S, et al (2024). Social network and related factors in older people with sensory impairment in the community: Using principal component analysis. Geriatr Nurs, 57: 109-116.
25. Cumberland PM, Rahi JS (2016). UK Bi-obank Eye and Vision Consortium. Vis-ual Function, Social Position, and Health and Life Chances: The UK Biobank Study. JAMA Ophthalmol, 134(9): 959-966.
26. Brunes A, B Hansen M, Heir T (2019). Loneliness among adults with visual im-pairment: prevalence, associated factors, and relationship to life satisfaction. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 17(1): 24.
27. Cohen-Mansfield J, Hazan H, Lerman Y, et al (2016). Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualita-tive insights. Int Psychogeriatr, 28(4): 557-576.
28. Heppe ECM, Kef S, de Moor MHM, et al (2020). Loneliness in young adults with a visual impairment: Links with perceived social support in a twenty-year longitu-dinal study. Res Dev Disabil, 101: 103634.
29. Huang AR, Cudjoe TKM, Rebok GW, et al (2024). Hearing and vision impairment and social isolation over 8 years in community-dwelling older adults. BMC Public Health, 24: 779.
30. Jin S, Trope GE, Buys YM, et al (2019). Re-duced social participation among sen-iors with self-reported visual impair-ment and glaucoma. PLoS One, 14: e0218540.
31. Tetteh J, Fordjour G, Ekem-Ferguson G, et al (2020). Visual impairment and social isolation, depression and life satisfac-tion among older adults in Ghana: anal-ysis of the WHO's Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 2. BMJ Open Ophthalmol, 5(1): e000492.
32. Dai WW, Gao JM, He P, et al (2019). The association between socioeconomic sta-tus and visual disability among older adults in China. Int J Ophthalmol, 12(1): 106-113.
33. Chu HY, Chan HS (2022). Loneliness and Social Support among the Middle-Aged and Elderly People with Visual Impair-ment. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 19(21): 14600.
34. Shah K, Frank CR, Ehrlich JR (2020). The association between vision impairment and social participation in community-dwelling adults: a systematic review. Eye (Lond), 34(2): 290-298.
35. Kim H, Koo H, Han E (2021). Socioeco-nomic and physical health status chang-es after visual impairment in Korea us-ing difference-in-difference estimations. Sci Rep, 11(1): 820.
36. Melchiorre MG, Chiatti C, Lamura G, et al (2013). Social support, socio-economic status, health and abuse among older people in seven European countries. PLoS One, 8(1): e54856.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 53 No 10 (2024) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Social support Elderly population National survey Republic of Serbia | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Djurovic N, Radovanovic S, Mihaljevic O, Radovanovic J, Stepovic M, Kovacevic M, Janicijevic K, Djordjevic G, Djordjevic O, Gajovic G, Djonovic N, Dimovic T, Janicijevic N, Maricic M, Vasiljevic D, Selakovic V. Socioeconomic and Health Characteristics as Predictors of Social Support in Elderly People with Visual Impairment: Evidence from Serbia. Iran J Public Health. 2024;53(10):2251-2259.
