Social participation and physical prefrailty in older Japanese adults: The Shimane CoHRE study

PLoS One. 2020 Dec 16;15(12):e0243548. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243548. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

As older adults in an early stage (prefrailty) of frailty may return to a healthy state, it is necessary to examine the prevention of prefrailty. In this context, the number and types of social participation activities associated with physical prefrailty in community-dwelling older adults have remained relatively unexplored. This cross-sectional study investigates this issue by analyzing 616 participants living in Okinoshima, Shimane, a rural area of Japan, in 2019. Frailty was assessed using the 5-item frailty phenotype (unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, slow walking speed, and low physical activity). Data on social participation were obtained using a questionnaire based on participants' level of involvement with volunteer groups, sports clubs/groups, neighborhood associations, religious organizations/groups, and community elderly salons; their answers were categorized as "yes" if they answered "several times per year or more" and "no" if they answered "never." Binominal logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of prefrailty by the number or types of social participation activities, adjusted for gender, age, body mass index, smoking, medication-taking, educational attainment, working status, and living arrangement. Of the 616 participants, 273 (44.3%) and 28 (4.5%) had prefrailty and frailty, respectively. The analysis showed that the number of social participation activities was significantly associated with lower odds of prefrailty (OR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.94). Regarding the types of social participation, sports clubs/groups were associated with lower odds of prefrailty (OR = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.31-0.73). Participation in neighborhood associations was associated with prefrailty/frailty (OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.37-0.86). These results suggest that increasing the number of social participation activities or involvement in sports clubs/groups and neighborhood associations may be important to prevent physical prefrailty in the older population.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Exercise
  • Fatigue
  • Female
  • Frail Elderly / psychology*
  • Frail Elderly / statistics & numerical data
  • Frailty / physiopathology
  • Frailty / prevention & control*
  • Humans
  • Independent Living / statistics & numerical data
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Self Report
  • Social Participation / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Weight Loss

Grants and funding

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 19H03996(MK) and 19K11667 (RM)and the Kieikai Research Foundation (RM). JSPS KAKENHI: https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/index/ Kiekai Research Foundation: https://www.nakashima-foundation.org/kieikai/research/index19.html The funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.