Social network, presence of cardiovascular events and mortality in hypertensive patients

The aim of this study was to ascertain the relationship between social network and the appearance of mortality (cardiovascular events (CVEs)) in patients with arterial hypertension (AHT). This is a cohort study of 236 patients with a 9-year follow-up. Measurements included age, sex, blood pressure (BP), diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, marital status, social network, social support, stage of family life cycle (FLC), mortality and CVEs. Patients with a low social network registered higher global mortality (hazards ratio (HR) 2.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3; 5.5)) as did the oldest patients (HR 5.6 (1.9; 16.8)), men (HR 3.5 (95% CI 1.3; 9.3)) and subjects in the last FLC stages (HR 4.3 (95% CI 1.3; 14.1)). Patients with low social support registered higher cardiovascular mortality (HR 2.6 (95% CI 1.1; 6.1)) as did the oldest patients (HR 12.4 (95% CI 2.8; 55.2)) and those with diabetes (HR 3.00 (95% CI 1.2; 7.6)). Patients with a low social network registered more CVEs (HR 2.1 (95% CI 1.1; 4.1)) than patients with an adequate network, as did the oldest patients (HR 3.1 (95% CI 1.4; 6.9)), subjects who presented with a higher grade of severity of AHT (HR 2.7 (1.3; 5.5)) and those in the last FLC stages (HR 2.5 (95% CI 1.0; 6.2)). A low social network is associated with mortality and the appearance of CVEs in patients with AHT. Low functional social support is associated with the appearance of cardiovascular mortality.