Social support and ideal cardiovascular health in urban Jamaica: a cross-sectional study

Recent studies suggest that high levels of social support can encourage better health behaviours and result in improved cardiovascular health. In this paper we evaluated the association between social support and ideal cardiovascular health among urban Jamaicans. We conducted a cross-sectional study among urban residents in Jamaica’s south-east health region. Socio-demographic data and information on cigarette smoking, physical activity, dietary practices, blood pressure, body size, cholesterol, and glucose were collected by trained personnel. The outcome variable, ideal cardiovascular health, was defined as having optimal levels of ≥5 of these characteristics (ICH-5) using the American Heart Association definitions. Social support exposure variables included number of friends (network size), number of friends willing to provide loans (instrumental support) and number of friends providing advice (informational support). Principal component analysis was used to create a social support score using these three variables. Survey-weighted logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between ICH-5 and social support score. Analyses included 841 participants (279 males, 562 females) with mean age of 47.6 years. ICH-5 prevalence was 26.4% (95%CI 22.2, 31.0) with no significant sex difference (male 27.5%, female 25.7%). In sex-specific, multivariable logistic regression models, social support score, was inversely associated with ICH-5 among males (OR 0.67 [95%CI 0.51, 0.89], p=0.006) but directly associated among females (OR 1.29 [95%CI 1.07, 1.55], p=0.007) after adjusting for age and community SES. Living in poorer communities was also significantly associated with higher odds of ICH-5 among males only. In this study, having higher levels of social support was associated with better cardiovascular health among women, but poorer cardiovascular health among men in urban Jamaica. Further research should explore these associations and identify appropriate interventions to promote cardiovascular health. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement Funding for this study was provided by the Bernard Lown Scholar program, (grant number: BLSCHP-1604). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Mona Campus Research Ethics Committee of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors