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Table 2 General and social network characteristics of the study population

From: Socially isolated individuals are more prone to have newly diagnosed and prevalent type 2 diabetes mellitus - the Maastricht study –

 

NGM (n = 1623)

Pre-diabetes (n = 430)

Newly diagnosed T2DM (n = 111)

Previously diagnosed T2DM (n = 697)

P-value1

General measurements

Age

58.1 ± 8.1

61.6 ± 7.5

62.9 ± 7.5

62.7 ± 7.7

<0.001

Male sex (%)

42.2

53.3

63.1

69.4

<0.001

Body mass index (kg/m2)

25.5 ± 3.6

27.7 ± 4.3

28.8 ± 4.8

29.9 ± 5.0

 

Educational level (%)

 - low2

26.1

34.7

34.2

47.1

<0.001

 - intermediate3

27.5

28.1

30.6

27.7

 

 - high4

45.7

36.3

34.2

24.5

 

Employment status (%)

 - employed

46.8

35.3

28.8

27.8

<0.001

 - retired

26.6

36.0

45.0

37.0

 

 - no paid job

19.6

19.8

19.8

20.1

 

 - not known

7.1

8.8

6.3

15.1

 

Smoking status (%)

 - never

39.6

29.8

33.3

27.7

<0.001

 - former

48.4

57.0

57.7

55.8

 

 - current

11.9

13.3

8.1

16.1

 

Alcohol consumption, glasses per week

7.3 ± 7.1

9.1 ± 10.6

9.3 ± 10.6

6.1 ± 8.5

<0.001

Prior CVD (%)

11.6

12.1

20.7

27.5

<0.001

Hypertension (%)

41.2

63.6

75.7

83.9

<0.001

Diabetes medication use (%)

n/a

n/a

n/a

90.9

n/a

Diabetes duration (years; median, Q1-Q3; n = 567)

n/a

n/a

n/a

7.0 (3.0–12.0)

n/a

Structural characteristics of the social network

Network size

11.00 ± 5.15

10.02 ± 5.08

7.68 ± 4.59

7.61 ± 4.38

<0.001

Contact frequency

Total contacts per half year

249.33 ± 144.09

233.13 ± 145.26

193.14 ± 123.39

196.55 ± 125.58

<0.001

Percentage of daily-weekly contact

46.29 ± 24.41

47.15 ± 25.09

53.67 ± 28.04

54.16 ± 28.01

<0.001

Proximity

Percentage of network members living within walking distance

28.96 ± 21.28

30.79 ± 23.60

27.51 ± 24.07

27.67 ± 24.20

0.158

Type of relationship

Percentage household members

14.00 ± 12.48

14.42 ± 13.84

21.19 ± 20.71

17.53 ± 17.41

<0.001

Percentage family members

55.94 ± 22.34

58.30 ± 23.68

61.78 ± 27.22

64.68 ± 26.00

<0.001

Percentage friends

30.05 ± 20.30

27.23 ± 20.95

22.76 ± 21.06

21.43 ± 21.96

<0.001

Living alone (%)

14.7

17.4

17.1

20.2

<0.05

Social participation (%)

71.6

64.2

61.1

56.4

<0.001

Functional characteristics of the social network

Informational supporta

3.5 ± 1.6

3.2 ± 1.7

2.7 ± 1.7

2.7 ± 1.7

<0.001

Emotional support (discomfort) a

3.0 ± 1.6

2.6 ± 1.6

2.1 ± 1.5

2.2 ± 1.5

<0.001

Emotional support (important decisions) a

3.4 ± 1.5

2.9 ± 1.6

2.5 ± 1.7

2.4 ± 1.5

<0.001

Practical support (jobs)a

3.0 ± 1.5

2.7 ± 1.5

2.3 ± 1.4

2.4 ± 1.4

<0.001

Practical support (sickness) a

2.5 ± 1.4

2.2 ± 1.4

1.8 ± 1.3

1.9 ± 1.3

<0.001

  1. Total study population n = 2861, NGM Normal glucose metabolism, T2DM Type 2 diabetes mellitus (newly or previously diagnosed)
  2. 1 p–values were obtained from ANOVA (p for trend)/ Kruskal-Wallis/ Chi-Square tests
  3. 2low education (no education, primary education, and lower vocational education). 3 intermediate education (intermediate vocational education, higher secondary education, and vocational education). 4 high education (higher professional education, university)
  4. aSocial support variables have a range from 0 to 5. Values are means (SD), unless stated otherwise
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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