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Adiposity and the role of diverse social supports: an observational, gender-sensitive study using the baseline Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2021

Zeinab Hosseini
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Office 4623, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Abdollah Safari
Affiliation:
Data, Analytics, Statistics and Informatics (DASI), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Nadia A Khan
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS), St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
Gerry Veenstra
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Annalijn I Conklin*
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Office 4623, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS), St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
*
*Corresponding author: Email aconklin@mail.ubc.ca
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Abstract

Objective:

To quantify associations between four types of social support and measured adiposity among women and men.

Design:

The cross-sectional sample from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA, 2012–2015). Height, weight and waist circumference (WC) were clinically measured, and perceived availability of informational, tangible, emotional and belonging social supports was self-reported.

Setting:

Canada.

Participants:

28 779 adults aged 45–85 years from the CLSA.

Results:

All social support types were associated with WC and BMI among women but not among men. Women reporting the lowest informational support had significantly higher mean BMI (28·84 kg/m2 (95 % CI 28·63, 29·05)) and WC (90·81 cm (95 % CI 90·31, 91·30)) compared with women reporting maximum support (respectively, 28·09 kg/m2 (95 % CI 27·88, 28·30) and 88·92 cm (95 % CI 88·43, 89·4)). Women’s abdominal obesity was associated with low levels of informational, emotional and belonging support, and women’s general obesity with informational and emotional support. Notably, informational and emotional support were associated with both obesity outcomes independent of other supports among women. Only a low level of informational support was significantly independently associated with higher odds of obesity among men.

Conclusions:

Our study provides novel insights into gender-specific associations between different types of social support and adiposity. Prospective studies are needed to further investigate potential causality of these associations between the specific social supports and future weight status, especially among women.

Information

Type
Research paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics across functional social ties among older women and men in the CLSA (2012–2015)

Figure 1

Table 2 Main and independent associations between functional social ties and odds of obesity in older women in the CLSA (n 14 627)

Figure 2

Fig. 1 Main and independent associations between social support and predicted mean BMI by gender. Solid lines are predicted mean values for main associations between social support and BMI (adjusted only for co-variables). Dashed lines are predicted mean values for independent associations between social support and BMI (adjusted for co-variables and all supports). Women, grey; men, black. , covariable-adjusted in women; , covariable-adjusted in men; , mutually adjusted in women; , mutually adjusted in men

Figure 3

Fig. 2 Main and independent associations between social support and predicted mean WC by gender. Solid lines are predicted mean values for main associations between social support and BMI (adjusted only for co-variables). Dashed lines are predicted mean values for independent associations between social support and BMI (adjusted for co-variables and all supports). Women, grey; men, black. , covariable-adjusted in women; , covariable-adjusted in men; , mutually adjusted in women; , mutually adjusted in men

Figure 4

Table 3 Main and independent associations between functional social ties and odds of obesity in older men in the CLSA (n 14 152)

Supplementary material: File

Hosseini et al. supplementary material

Tables S1-S4

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Supplementary material: File

Hosseini et al. supplementary material

Table 1

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