Evaluation of the optimal cutoff number of types of social participation activities in older people

Kai-Chieh Chang; Hsin-Shui Chen; Chi-Shin Wu; Chin-Kai Chang; Juey-Jen Hwang; Su-Hua Huang; Yung-Ming Chen; Bor-Wen Cheng; Min-Hsiu Weng; Chih-Cheng Hsu; Wei-Lieh Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jfma.2023.01.014

Evaluation of the optimal cutoff number of types of social participation activities in older people

J Formos Med Assoc. 2023 Jul;122(7):612-620. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2023.01.014. Epub 2023 Feb 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
² Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan.
³ Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan; National Center for Geriatrics and Welfare Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Dietetics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan; Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan; National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
⁹ Graduate School of Applied Chinese Studies, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
¹⁰ National Center for Geriatrics and Welfare Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin Branch, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Electronic address: y03046@ms1.ylh.gov.tw.

PMID: 36788044
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2023.01.014

Abstract

Introduction: Social participation activities have a close association with health aging. However, the clinical significance of numbers of social participation activities and its cutoff value has not been defined.

Methods: We recruited 516 people aged ≥55 years. Twelve social participation behaviors modified according to Taiwanese culture were investigated, and the adequacy of cutoff number was determined by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) according to the results of cluster analysis of individual activities and scores of the Brief Symptom Rating Scale-5 (BSRS-5) and the Chinese Happiness Inventory (CHI). Demographic, BSRS-5 and CHI data were then compared according to the candidate cutoff numbers.

Results: The distribution of the numbers of social activities suggested that the highest partition of numbers of social activities was 3 in women and 4 in men. The AUC regarding the cluster of activity types was 0.917, with the highest Youden's J value located between 3 and 4. The AUC regarding the cluster of activity types and scores of the BSRS-5 and the CHI was 0.929, with similar cutoffs. If 3 and 4 were used as cutoffs, the between-group differences of both the CHI and the BSRS-5 were significant. More types of social activities had a different engaging frequency with the 3 and 4 cutoffs.

Conclusion: Our findings found an adequate cutoff with better differential power in the psychopathology and happiness of older people that provided a basis for application in intervention and policy formation.

Keywords: Community elderly; Social detachment; Social participation.

MeSH terms

Aged
Female
Humans
Male
ROC Curve
Social Participation*