Perceptions of social capital and cost-related non-adherence to medication among the elderly

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the association between social capital and cost-related non-adherence (CRN) in an elderly population, using data from 1,134 respondents to the Greater Metropolitan Belo Horizonte Health Survey. CRN was lower for those elderly with a better perception of attachment to their neighbourhoods (PR = 0.68; 95%CI: 0.50-0.94), with more social contacts (one to five, PR = 0.49; 95%CI: 0.30-0.80 and more than five, PR = 0.42; 95%CI: 0.26-0.67), and with private health insurance coverage (PR = 0.64; 95%CI: 0.45-0.93). Meanwhile, CRN was significantly higher for those with fair to poor self-rated health (PR =1.66; 95%CI: 0.95-2.90 and PR = 2.62; 95%CI: 1.46-4.71 respectively), with multiple comorbidities (two, PR = 3.45; 95%CI: 1.38-8.62 and three or more, PR = 4.42; 95%CI: 1.74-11.25), and with a lower frequency of physician-patient dialogue about health/treatment (rarely/never, PR = 1.91; 95%CI: 1.16-3.13). These findings highlight the need to take into account the social context in future research on CRN.

Temporal trends in the contribution of Chagas cardiomyopathy to mortality among patients with heart failure

“…Consistent with this notion, we observed that median doses of beta-blockers as well as average heart rate and blood pressure values were markedly lower in ChC as compared with NChC, which might contribute to explain the higher rate of events among patients with ChC. Furthermore, given that patients with ChC have worse socioeconomic status and education levels, it is possible that they might have poorer health literacy and consequent lower adherence to HF therapeutic regimens 25. However, we cannot confirm this latter hypothesis because adherence to HF medications was not systematically accessed during follow-up in our cohorts.…”

Associação entre incapacidade funcional e capital social em idosos residentes em comunidade

“…Probably, the elderly with high perception of cohesion to their neighborhood adopt healthier behaviors, even regarding their prevention of the onset of disabilities and they benefit from the effects of belonging to a community that shares the same interests and feelings, cultural activities, and recreation 29 . Given the lack of studies on specific effects of cohesion perception about the functional disability and even about other health events, new investigations on this theme are necessary.…”

“…The multiple definitions, the different options of measuring, and the data analysis hamper the research of the social capital in populational studies. Thus, recognizing their diverse and multidimensional nature, we use measures of social capital that are able to express the degree of interpersonal relation and the satisfaction with the place of residence and with neighbors, which are also used in other investigations performed with elderly living in the RMBH 29 . Another difficulty arises from the absence of a consensus on which would be the appropriate level of social capital, if either the individual or aggregate one 32 .…”

Gender differences in the association of perceived social support and social network with self-rated health status among older adults: a population-based study in Brazil

“…Such networks can benefit health, as they foster trust, self-esteem, and cooperation [44]. Social groups can also influence health through health-related behaviours such as physical activity, binge drinking, functional capacity, cost-related medication non-adherence, and access to and use of medical care [18-21,29,45]. However, the positive effect of social networks on health appears to be more relevant for men than women since similar gender difference was found in other studies where social network size was associated with SRH only in men [3,8].…”