Social frailty is independently associated with geriatric depression among older adults living in northern Japan: A cross‐sectional study of ORANGE registry

Abstract

To clarify prevalence of social frailty among older adults living in a rural Japanese community, and factors associated with social frailty status.Methods: In total, 322 adults aged ≥65 years living in a Japanese rural community took part in the study from 2018 to 2020. Social frailty was defined as deficiencies of: (i) living alone; (ii) talking with someone every day; (iii) feeling helpful to friends or family; (iv) going out less frequently compared with last year; and (v) visiting friends sometimes. Social frail status was categorized as robust (0), social prefrail (1), and social frail (≥2), according to the summated score of Makizako's criteria. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to clarify factors associated with social frailty status.Results: Final samples were classified into 68 persons with social frailty, 98 persons with social prefrailty and 147 persons as robust. We observed the prevalence of social frailty (21.7%) and social prefrailty (31.3%) and the GDS-15 had significantly high scores in the social frail groups. Social frailty was significantly associated with the GDS-15 score (odds ratio, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.19-1.49) and TMT-A (odds ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.08) and GDS-15 (odds ratio, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03-1.26) were extracted as independent variables of social prefrail status, with adjustment for demographics, polypharmacy and lifestyle-related diseases.Conclusions: Our results suggest that social frailty tends to be increasing gradually in a Japanese rural area, and social prefrailty might be potentially associated with attentional function, as well as the GDS-15 score.

The Relationship between Social Frailty and Depressive Symptoms in the Elderly: A Scoping Review

“…Table A1 and Table A2 show the characteristics of the studies included in the review. Of the 14 original studies, 9 are cross-sectional studies [ 4 , 11 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], 3 are prospective cohort studies [ 8 , 25 , 26 ], and 1 is a retrospective cohort study [ 27 ]. One analyzed both cross-sectional data and data from prospective cohort studies [ 10 ].…”

“…Depression: 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form Korean Version (GDSSF-K) Depression was significantly correlated with social frailty. Yu Kume (2022) [ 23 ] To clarify prevalence of social frailty among older adults living in a rural Japanese community, and factors associated with social frailty status. cross-sectional study; Level 3 N = 322 aged 65 or older in a Japanese rural community 1.…”

Association of social isolation and smartphone use on cognitive functions

“…Living alone, which is one criterion for social isolation in our study, was reported to be associated with lower processing speed and more severe depressive symptoms ( Gow, Corley, Starr, & Deary, 2013 ). And attentional function assessed by trail making test- part A was associated with depressive symptoms in Japanese older adults with social frail ( Kume et al., 2022 ). Depressive symptoms are also known to mediate a decrease in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations and brain volume, resulting in a decrease in processing speed as assessed by the symbol digit substitution task (H. Shimada et al., 2014 ).…”

Association between Productive Roles and Frailty Factors among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…From the perspective of psychological and cognitive frailty, geriatric depression was found to be a predictor of productive role among the young-old adults. A previous study found that geriatric depression was an independent variable for social frailty [ 13 ]. Social frailty was defined as living alone, talking with someone every day, feeling helpful to friends or family, going out less frequently compared with the previous year, and visiting friends sometimes [ 28 ].…”

“…Therefore, engagement in productive roles as a trigger for social participation in old age may assist in the prevention of frailty. Several previous studies indicated that social frailty was associated with depressive symptoms [ 13 ] in addition to physical and cognitive functions [ 14 ]. However, few studies have examined the engagement of older adults in productive roles, including paid (full-time or part-time), unpaid, and volunteer work.…”