Abstract
BackgroundSocial frailty is associated with poor health outcomes; however, its effects on healthy aging indicators have not been adequately investigated. This study assessed the longitudinal association between social frailty and the intrinsic capacity of community-dwelling older adults.MethodsA total of 663 participants (56.7% women) aged ≥60 years from in Nagoya, Japan, were included in the study. The first measurement occurred in 2014, and annual follow-ups occurred until 2017. Social frailty was determined based on four items: financial difficulty, household status, social activity, and regular contact with others. A deficit score of 0 represented social robustness, 1 represented social prefrailty, and ≥ 2 represented social frailty. Intrinsic capacity was evaluated by the locomotion, cognition, psychological function, vitality, and sensory function domains. The longitudinal association was analyzed using generalized estimating equations.ResultsThe prevalence of social prefrailty and social frailty at baseline was 31.2 and 6.3%, respectively. The social prefrailty group (β = − 0.132, P < 0.001) and social frailty group (β = − 0.258, P < 0.001) were associated with a greater reduction in the composite intrinsic capacity scores than the social robustness group, especially in the cognition, psychological function, and vitality domains. Men with social prefrailty/social frailty demonstrated a greater decrease in the psychological function domain score (− 0.512 vs. − 0.278) than women. Additionally, the cognition domain score only decreased in men in the social prefrailty/social frailty group (β = − 0.122, P = 0.016).ConclusionsSocial frailty was associated with intrinsic capacity and its subdomains longitudinally. Men with social frailty were more vulnerable than women to a decline in their psychological function and cognition domains. Therefore, the advanced management of social frailty is necessary to facilitate healthy aging.
Highlights
Social frailty is associated with poor health outcomes; its effects on healthy aging indicators have not been adequately investigated
intrinsic capacity (IC) is constructed based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework, which is consistent with biological aging theory, and consists of five health-related domains: locomotion, cognition, psychological function, vitality, and sensory function [3]
A total of 207 (31.2%) and 42 (6.3%) participants were categorized as having social prefrailty and social frailty, respectively (Table 1)
Summary
Social frailty is associated with poor health outcomes; its effects on healthy aging indicators have not been adequately investigated. The following direct measures have been identified for the abovementioned five domains: gait speed, five times sit-to-stand test, and static balance in the locomotion domain; verbal fluency, delayed verbal memory, and attention in the cognition domain; affect and sleep disturbance severity in the psychological function domain; hand grip, dehydroepiandrosterone, insulin-like growth factor 1, and forced expiratory volume in the vitality domain; and selfreported vision and hearing impairment in the sensory function domain [4] This national cohort study showed evidence of the ability of IC to predict physical functioning, either in the overall measure or in the individual domain [4]. To prevent and reduce undesired health outcomes, exploring the potentially reversible risk factors for IC is anticipated to pave the way for intervention
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