© 2013 the Nordic Societies of Public Health DOI: 10.1177/1403494813482535 Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2013; 41: 340–343 Background

Lack of social network and social support are great public health concerns as these are important and well-established risk factors for morbidity and mor-tality in general populations [1,2]. In persons with chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and cancer, good social relations are associated with bet-ter prognosis [3,4]. Among persons with type 2 dia-betes mellitus, strong social networks and good social support are associated with fewer psychosocial prob-lems and better diabetes self-management [5–7]. To the best of our knowledge, only a Finnish study from 1996 has compared persons with type 2 diabetes to a general population in terms of social relations [8]. The study showed that persons with type 2 diabetes had poorer social relations. However, it is uncertain whether this can be found in a Danish context, and whether the study is applicable in 2010, the year in which our data were collected, as the diabetes preva-lence in Denmark has more than doubled since 1996 [9]. The aim of this study was to investigate whether social relations, such as living without a partner, con-tact with a social network, and expected social sup-port from the network, differed between persons with type 2 diabetes and the general population. Methods In 2010, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in three populations. The first survey was conducted among persons with type 2 diabetes from a diabetes specialist clinic in the Copenhagen area of Denmark [10]. Patients from specialist clinics are characterized Differences in social relations between persons with type 2 diabetes and the general populatio