Positive and negative aspects of social relations and low-grade inflammation in Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank

Abstract

The association between social relations and health outcomes is well described, but pathways are relatively poorly understood. Inflammation has been suggested as a potential physiological pathway, linking social relations to adverse health outcomes. However, previous studies have shown ambiguous results and have for the vast majority been based on studies small in sample size. The aim of the present study is to examine the association between comprehensive measures of structural and positive as well as negative functional aspects of social relations, across four relational domains-partner/spouse, children, other family and friends, and the level of systemic low-grade inflammation in a large population-based middle-aged cohort and to examine variation by gender and socioeconomic position in these associations. The study comprised of 5576 participants in the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank. The inflammatory biomarkers collected in late midlife included C-reactive protein, Interleukin-6, and TNF-alpha. Multiple linear regression models were implemented to explore associations between social relations and inflammatory measures controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic position, marital status, early major lifeevents and morbidity. Results show weak and ambiguous associations in all analyses. There were no strong indications of interaction with socioeconomic position. Concluding cautiously, men appear to be more vulnerable toward living alone and low contact frequency with family compared to women as regards high level of low-grade inflammation. In conclusion, this large-scale population-based study among middle-aged men and women showed no association between social relations and low-grade inflammation.

Keywords: Gender; Low-grade inflammation; Social relations; Social strain; Socioeconomic position.