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Frailty index trajectories in Chinese older adults with diverse levels of social participation: findings from a national population-based longitudinal study

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Abstract

Background

Aging and frailty pose significant challenges globally, placing a substantial burden on healthcare and social services due to their adverse consequences.

Aim

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between social participation and development of frailty transition and trajectory.

Methods

This study utilized data from the CLHLS Cohort, a 10-year follow-up study involving 6713 participants, to investigate the association between social participation and development of frailty. Frailty reflects a comprehensive decline in various body functions. The study employed a group-based trajectory model to analyze the development trajectory of the frailty index and used logistic regression to assess the odds ratio (OR) of frailty risk.

Results

We identified two distinct groups of frailty progression trajectories: the “stable development group” and the “rapid growth group.” Individuals who engaged in social activities at least once a month, but not daily, exhibited a significant association with an increased risk of transitioning into the “rapid growth group” (OR 1.305, 95% CI 1.032–1.649). Those with social participation less than once a month had an even greater risk (OR 1.872, 95% CI 1.423–2.463). Moreover, low social participation frequency (occasionally/never) has a more pronounced impact on frailty progression in males.

Conclusion

A higher frequency of social participation is associated with a lower risk of being classified into the “rapid growth group” and a slower rate of frailty index progression. Preventing the progression of frailty can contribute to enhanced support for healthy aging among older adults.

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Availability of data and materials

All data can be obtained from https://opendata.pku.edu.cn/.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey team for providing data.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 82004143], Medical Health Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province [grant number 2018KY545], Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [grant number Q18H260001].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 548 Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310053, Zhejiang Province, China

    Junjie Lin, Kunyi Wang, Yu Zhang, Kexin Lu, Huilin Xia, Minxia Hua & Rucheng Chen

  2. Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China

    Weijun Zheng

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  1. Junjie Lin
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Contributions

JL for study concept and design and drafting of manuscript, JL, YZ, and KL for analysis and interpretation of data, MH, HX, and KW for statistical analysis and technical support. RC for obtained funding and study supervision. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rucheng Chen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Ethics approval

The data from CLHLS survey already obtained the ethical approval and informed consent, and was approved by research ethics committees of Duke University and Peking University (IRB00001052-13074).

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All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Lin, J., Wang, K., Zhang, Y. et al. Frailty index trajectories in Chinese older adults with diverse levels of social participation: findings from a national population-based longitudinal study. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 3105–3114 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02617-2

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