Social isolation and health-promoting behaviors among older adults living with different health statuses: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics and relationships of social isolation and health promoting behaviors of Chinese older adults with different health statuses. METHODS: Totally 485 older adults were recruited. They were divided into three groups based on their health status: healthy group (n = 72), group with one disease (n = 183) and group with multimorbidity (n = 230). Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II were used to measure their social isolation and health-promoting behaviors, respectively. RESULTS: Among the aged with one disease or multimorbidity, 30.6% (56/183) and 31.7% (73/230) were socially isolated, respectively, based on the score of the Lubben Social Network Scale-6. The three groups differed significantly in health-promoting behaviors and scores on several subscales. The group with multimorbidity exhibited more social isolation and fewer health-promoting behaviors than other groups. Social isolation was among the factors adversely affecting health-promoting behaviors in older adults. CONCLUSIONS: Health care providers should help older adults with multimorbidity preserve the remaining abilities to improve health-promoting behaviors. Meanwhile, it is important to support healthy older adults to increase self-responsibility to achieve healthy aging.