Background/Purpose: Social capital is the degree of connectedness, and the extent and quality of social relations, networks, and interactions in a given population. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between social capital and health-related psychosocial variables in SLE patients.

Methods:   In a cross-sectional study, SLE patients completed: a) Adapted Social Capital Assessment Tool (A-SCAT), which measures cognitive and structural domains of social capital (range: 0-71) (higher scores reflect higher social capital); and b) health-related psychosocial variables including Medical Outcomes Study (MOS)-Social Support Survey (range: 0-100), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (range: 0-60), and Self Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-item Scale (range: 1-10) (higher scores reflect higher social support, depression, and self-efficacy, respectively).  Pearson correlation and analysis of variance were used to evaluate for any associations and significant differences, respectively, between social capital scores and the psychosocial variables.

  Results:   We recruited 89 SLE patients who met ACR SLE criteria (female: 83; Caucasian: 28 (31%); African American: 32 (36%); Asian: 6 (7%); other: 23 (26%); and Hispanic: 53 (60%)).  Mean age was 39 ± 15 y; mean disease duration 11.6 ± 8.2y, mean SLEDAI 3.5 ± 3.0, and mean SLICC 1.3 ± 1.8.  Selected socioeconomic features were: Medicaid 47 (53%), ≥ high school degree 69 (78%), annual household income <$40,000 53 (60%), employed 25 (28%), unemployed 31 (35%), and disability 30 (34%). The mean A-SCAT score was 34 ±15; the mean CES-D score was 22 ± 13; the mean MOS-SSS was 66 ± 27; the mean self efficacy score was 5 ± 2, and 56 (63%) had a positive screen (CES-D≥ 16) for depression. Social capital was not associated with self-efficacy or affectionate and interaction social support, but was associated with informational and tangible social support. Cognitive social capital domain was negatively associated with the depression scale (Table 1). There were no significant differences in the SLEDAI and SLICC scores according to social capital, social support, and depression measures.

Conclusion: This is the first study to use social capital as a novel platform in a lupus population defined by the commonality of a chronic illness, on which ideas of social connectedness can broaden our understanding of health disparities and chronic illness.  Our results show that social capital has features that overlap with social support, specifically in the informational and tangible (provision of material aid or behavioral assistance) subscales, but is distinct from traditional health-related psychosocial measures.