Table 3.
Direct and indirect effects of social network properties on metabolic syndrome (n=10 103)*
| Community-based low-risk participants (n=8097) | ||||
| Social network properties | Men (n=2808) | Women (n=5289) | ||
| Effect size (95% CI)† (×10−2) | P value | Effect size (95% CI)† (×10−2) | P value | |
| Size of social network | ||||
| Direct effect | 3.65 (1.74 to 7.07) | 0.040 | 3.19 (1.15 to 5.20) | 0.002 |
| Indirect effect—physical activity | 0.52 (0.08 to 1.05) | 0.024 | 0.31 (0.11 to 0.55) | <0.001 |
| Indirect effect—cigarette smoking | 0.00 (−0.11 to 0.11) | 0.977 | 0.00 (−0.06 to 0.48) | 0.910 |
| Indirect effect—alcohol consumption | −0.01 (−0.16 to 0.14) | 0.933 | −0.03 (−0.12 to 0.03) | 0.420 |
| Indirect effect—depressive symptoms | 0.14 (−0.15 to 0.47) | 0.345 | 0.00 (−0.15 to 0.14) | 0.994 |
| Social network closeness | ||||
| Direct effect | 1.45 (−1.99 to 4.84) | 0.396 | −1.40 (−3.43 to 0.56) | 0.176 |
| Indirect effect—physical activity | 0.07 (−0.08 to 0.29) | 0.362 | 0.05 (−0.05 to 0.17) | 0.314 |
| Indirect effect—cigarette smoking | 0.06 (−0.10 to 0.29) | 0.445 | 0.02 (−0.04 to 0.09) | 0.554 |
| Indirect effect—alcohol consumption | −0.03 (−0.20 to 0.11) | 0.697 | −0.03 (−0.12 to 0.03) | 0.358 |
| Indirect effect—depressive symptoms | 0.16 (−0.16 to 0.50) | 0.340 | 0.00 (−0.23 to 0.23) | 0.991 |
| Hospital-based high-risk participants (n=2006) | ||||
| Social network properties | Men (n=1168) | Women (n=838) | ||
| Effect size (95% CI)† (×10−2) | P value | Effect size (95% CI)† (×10−2) | P value | |
| Size of social network | ||||
| Direct effect | −1.12 (−9.07 to 6.51) | 0.802 | 8.40 (0.09 to 16.23) | 0.046 |
| Indirect effect—physical activity | 0.13 (−0.47 to 0.80) | 0.649 | 0.07 (−0.61 to 0.82) | 0.824 |
| Indirect effect—cigarette smoking | −0.01 (−1.02 to 0.92) | 0.991 | 0.12 (−0.41 to 0.83) | 0.662 |
| Indirect effect—alcohol consumption | −0.05 (−0.64 to 0.51) | 0.857 | −0.04 (−0.50 to 0.37) | 0.870 |
| Indirect effect—depressive symptoms | 0.12 (−0.30 to 0.67) | 0.601 | 0.03 (−0.36 to 5.07) | 0.894 |
| Social network closeness | ||||
| Direct effect | −1.44 (−7.34 to 4.19) | 0.630 | 1.33 (−5.69 to 8.18) | 0.705 |
| Indirect effect—physical activity | 0.04 (−0.18 to 0.33) | 0.790 | 0.04 (−0.33 to 0.47) | 0.854 |
| Indirect effect—cigarette smoking | 0.42 (−0.29 to 1.33) | 0.267 | 0.20 (−0.51 to 1.14) | 0.598 |
| Indirect effect—alcohol consumption | −0.03 (−0.47 to 0.36) | 0.859 | −0.07 (−0.67 to 4.34) | 0.761 |
| Indirect effect—depressive symptoms | 0.66 (−0.09 to 1.58) | 0.083 | 0.60 (−0.70 to 1.97) | 0.344 |
Estimated using the ‘mediation’ package. The quasi-Bayesian Monte Carlo method was applied with 5000 times of simulation each.
Significant values are in bold.
*All results are from the dataset after multiple imputation by chained equations, with a chain length of 10.
†Adjusted for age, household income, education level, comorbidities and social network closeness.