Social Network Characteristics and Body Mass Index in an Elderly Korean Population

Lee, Won Joon; Youm, Yoosik; Rhee, Yumie; Park, Yeong-Ran; Chu, Sang Hui; Kim, Hyeon Chang

Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess the relationship between each social network measure and BMI ( Table 2) . As regards network structure, rank-transformed network size and density were only associated with the men's BMI in model 3, while the group of network structure was significantly associated with BMI among all of the models in the men. The men with lower density and higher size had a higher BMI (β=1.253, p=0.014) than the men with higher density and lower size, while the men with middle density and size also had a higher BMI (β=1.022, p=0.044) compared with the reference group. We did not observe a significant association between network structure and BMI in the women. As regards network activation, communication frequency was significantly associated with the women's BMI among all of the models. The association between rank-transformed meeting frequency and the women's BMI was significant, but the tertile of meeting frequency was only associated in model 3. We did not observe such an association between network activation and BMI in the men.