ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1562186
This article is part of the Research Topic(Un)healthy lifestyles, Aging, and Type 2 DiabetesView all 11 articles
Social isolation in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a pathway analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
- 2Beijing Hospital, Beijing, Beijing, China
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Background: Due to aging, antidiabetic drug usage and diet control after suffering from T2DM, the social interactions of older adults with T2DM are limited, which leads to the incidence of social isolation of older adults with T2DM higher than that of the general elderly. This study aims to analyze the prevalence and influencing factors of social isolation among older adults with T2DM using a structural equation model.A cross-sectional study was conducted. From January to November 2023, 496 older adults with T2DM were recruited in hospitals or community health service in Beijing to investigate their social isolation status and the related factors with Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and related scales. The effects of different factors on social isolation were determined by a path analysis.Results: Among 496 older adults with T2DM, 227 had social isolation, with a prevalence rate of 45.77%. Activity of daily living, cognitive function, loneliness, exercise management, smoking, social support and social participation are related to social isolation directly. The six factors of activity of daily living, loneliness, depression, diet management, blood glucose monitoring, and social support are related to social isolation through social participation.The incidence of social isolation among older adults with T2DM is high. For them, activity of daily living, loneliness and social support are the significant factors of their social isolation since they are directly or indirectly related to social isolation. Meanwhile, diabetes selfmanagement such as diet management, exercise management, blood glucose management and smoking are directly or indirectly related to social isolation. For older adults with T2DM, the important intermediary role of social participation between the factors and social isolation should be given due attention.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes, Aged, Social Isolation, Influencing factors, Path analysis
Received: 17 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Bai, Lin, Sun, Quan Ying, Zhang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yu Liu, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
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