Association between frailty and changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions among older adults affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures in Japan

Abstract

Aim This study aimed to clarify the association between frailty and changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions among community‐dwelling older adults affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures in Japan. Methods This cross‐sectional study was carried out between 8 May and 12 June 2020 in Japan. Self‐reported questionnaires were distributed among 1353 older adults. To assess frailty, we used the frailty screening index. To assess changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions, we developed the Questionnaire for Change of Life (QCL), which comprised five items related to frailty. Cronbach's α was calculated as a measure of internal consistency of QCL. We compared the score for each item in the QCL between the frailty and non‐frailty groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to show the factors that affect frailty status. Results In total, 856 older adults (63.3%) were analyzed. A total of 83 participants (9.7%) had frailty, and 755 participants (90.3%) had non‐frailty. Cronbach's α for QCL was 0.552. We observed a significant decrease in daily movement, leg muscle strength and meal size among older adults with frailty compared with non‐frailty ( P < 0.001). Subjective leg muscle strength (odds ratio 3.257, 95% confidence interval 2.236–4.746) was negatively correlated with frailty. Conclusions We suggest that each individual QCL item should be used in analyses involving the QCL. This report showed that subjective lifestyle changes affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures were associated with frailty status. In particular, as older adults were aware of a decrease in their leg muscle strength, they were significantly more frail. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; ••: ••–•• .

Acceleration of Biological Aging and Underestimation of Subjective Age Are Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19

“…The influence of quarantine (and not disease) on the biological age of the respondents was noted by a number of researchers. In Japan, an increase in biological age, as determined by the Fragility Screening Index (FSI), was revealed in uninfected older people affected by COVID-19 restriction measures [ 50 ]. Our study demonstrated that in Russia during the quarantine period, there was a significant growth of biological age only in the group of working men; in the group of working women the increase in biological age was only at the tendency level.…”

“…The participants were 856 uninfected seniors affected by COVID-19 restrictions. The study showed that the introduction of quarantine resulted in a subjective decrease of daily movements, leg muscle strength, and food intake and in general resulted in an increase of the Fragility Index [ 50 ].…”

Association of Health Literacy with the Implementation of Exercise during the Declaration of COVID-19 State of Emergency among Japanese Community-Dwelling Old-Old Adults

“…Fourth, we could not measure physical exercise behaviors using accelerometers or pedometers, they were assessed using a simple questionnaire rather than a validated index. Although the validity of such surveys is not well established, face-to-face diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult, and hence, questionnaire surveys are used because of their simplicity and ease of classification [ 41 ]. Finally, the effects of other unmeasured confounding factors, such as cognitive function, were not tested.…”

Transition to frailty in older Japanese people during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a prospective cohort study

“…Items about worry or anxiety were scored as decreased = 1, slightly decreased = 2, unchanged = 3, slightly increased = 4, increased = 5. Almost all items of QCL related to frailty status have been validated previously ( Shinohara et al, 2021a ; Shinohara et al, 2021b ).…”