Neighborhood Social Cohesion Associates with Loneliness Differently among Older People According to Subjective Social Status.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether neighborhood social cohesion can alleviate the negative impact of low subjective social status on feelings of loneliness. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Community, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Older people who participated in a cohort study on osteoporosis and general health in Hong Kong (MrOs study). METHODS: Data were sourced from the 14-year follow-up data of the MrOs study. Loneliness was measured using the 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Neighborhood social cohesion was measured by the Hong Kong version of Neighborhood Cohesion Instrument. Linear regression models were used to examine the associations between neighborhood social cohesion and loneliness, controlled for age, sex, marital status, educational level, lifestyle, number of diseases, and maximum lifetime income. The analyses were stratified by subjective social status as measured by a 10-rung self-anchoring scale. RESULTS: 1,037 participants with a mean age of 83 years were included in the study, of whom 72%, 83%, and 64% were classified as at risk of overall loneliness, emotional loneliness, and social loneliness, respectively. Those who were classified as at risk of overall loneliness reported lower subjective social status and had lower levels of neighborhood social cohesion. Linear regression models showed that higher levels of neighborhood social cohesion were associated with lower levels of overall and social loneliness. Stratified analyses showed that the associations between neighborhood social cohesion and loneliness vary across subjective social status groups. Among those with low/middle social status ranking, higher levels of neighborhood social cohesion were associated with lower overall (low-ranking B=-0.111, p=0.001; middle-ranking B=-0.057, p=0.026) and social (low-ranking B=-0.093, p<0.001; middle-ranking B=-0.073, p<0.001) loneliness scores. Among those with high ranking, higher levels of neighborhood social cohesion were associated with lower overall (B=-0.099, p=0.041) and emotional (B=-0.056, p=0.017) loneliness scores, but the associations became insignificant when controlling for maximum lifetime income. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Neighborhood social cohesion may operate differently in different social ranking groups. Interventions to alleviate feelings of loneliness should be subjective social status specific.

Cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis screening strategies for hip fracture prevention in older Chinese people: a decision tree modeling study in the Mr. OS and Ms. OS cohort in Hong Kong.

Despite the high costs of hip fracture, many governments provide limited support for osteoporosis screening. We demonstrated that osteoporosis screening by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with or without pre-screening by Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) or calcaneal ultrasound are more cost-effective than no screening in Chinese people aged 65 or over in Hong Kong. INTRODUCTION: To examine the cost-effective potential osteoporosis screening strategies for hip fracture prevention in Hong Kong. METHODS: Decision tree models were constructed to evaluate the cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) of the different osteoporosis screening strategies followed by subsequent 5-year treatment with alendronate compared to no screening (but treat if a hip fracture occurs). The multiple osteoporosis screening strategies were composed of alternative tests and initiation age groups were evaluated with a 10-year horizon, and treatment were assigned if central dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) T-score (at either the hip or spine) is - 2.5 or less. Strategies included DXA for all people and pre-screening with the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) at specific thresholds or by calcaneal quantitative ultrasonography (QUS) before taking DXA examination. All the model inputs were based on the Mr. OS and Ms. OS Hong Kong cohort; data are obtained from the Social Welfare Department or the published literature. RESULTS: All of the screening strategies, including the universal screening with DXA and the pre-screening with FRAX or QUS before DXA, were consistently more cost-effective than no screening for people aged 65 years old or over. One-way sensitivity analysis with a more optimistic assumption on treatment adherence or inclusion of other major osteoporotic fractures did not change the results materially. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed a dominant role of pre-screening with FRAX followed by subsequent osteoporosis drug treatment in people aged 70 years old or over in Hong Kong. CONCLUSIONS: Osteoporosis screening strategies based on DXA with or without pre-screening are more cost-effective compared to no screening for Chinese people aged 65 or over in Hong Kong.