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Are healthy and unhealthy habits contagious? Can a person's social network influence their risk of disease? It's a controversial idea but that researchers want to explore in the future and better understand. A new study conducted by Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers helps to lay important groundwork for such studies by developing and making accessible scalable tools allowing clinical researchers to evaluate networks. in a robust and quantifiable way. In addition, using data from a cohort of GEMS project participants (genes and environment in multiple sclerosis) funded by the federal government, the team reports finding a link between the habits of associates. to a participant and. The results of the team are published online today. Nature Communications.
"We find that there is a close relationship between the health habits of people in the patient's social network and the results that are of interest to doctors specializing in multiple sclerosis.This relationship should not be ignored when the patient is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. consider a person with neurological disabilities, ask, "Is this person's risk solely based on their biology, or is it influenced by the healthy or unhealthy lifestyles of those around them?" Lead author Amar Dhand, MD, DPHIL.
Dhand and his colleagues have developed a social network assessment tool that can be applied to any patient population. To test it, they used this tool to measure the social networks of 1,493 people at risk of multiple sclerosis. Participants were asked to complete a brief questionnaire to assess neurological disability based on several abilities, including walking, use of arms and hands, vision, swallowing, cognition, sensation and intestinal function.
The team made a montage of the social network of each participant (see image), noting that the average network was composed of eight closely related people. The team also plotted the middle of the health habits around each participant, including exercise, smoking and consulting a doctor. Researchers found that the health habits of members of their social network were strongly associated with self-reported neurological dysfunction, and that the percentage of network members with a negative influence on health was the most strongly associated with disability.
Although it is still early for the GEMS cohort – participants have been enrolled in the study for less than five years – Dhand and his colleagues plan to continue to assess the relationship between participants' social networks and genetic risk factors and other environmental factors. symptoms of MS.
"We assume that there is a link between social networks and neuro-immunological function and, downstream, we plan to examine the characteristics of social networks related to susceptibility to the disease," said Dhand.
Source:
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/
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