Network social capital reduces the odds of developing hypertension in urban adults

Background: Hypertension is the most significant risk factor for death and disability globally.  Recent research on social capital and hypertension has suggested an important role for social capital in preventing hypertension, particularly in workplace settings.  Less research has examined prospectively whether network social capital might prevent the development of hypertension in a representative sample of urban-dwelling adults.  

Methods:  In 2010, a two-year follow-up study was conducted with participants of the Montreal Neighbourhood Networks and Healthy Aging Study.  Participants were asked in 2008 and 2010 whether they had been diagnosed with hypertension.  A position generator was used to collect data on network social capital.  Adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, multilevel logistic regression was used to assess whether a person's network social capital in 2008 predicted their chances of developing hypertension in 2010.  

Results:  Of the 1400 MoNNET participants in 2010, 1070 reported not having hypertension in 2008.  Among those, 84 (7.9%) participants had hypertension in 2010.  Results showed that participants with higher network social capital were less likely (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.92) to develop hypertension in 2010.  Being female and younger also decreased the odds of developing hypertension. 

Discussion:  Having diverse networks and access to a range of resources may be protective against the development of hypertension.   Developing health promotion programs that leverage the benefits of network capital and diversity may help reduce the burden of chronic disease in North America.