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Friendship-related social isolation is a potential risk factor for the transition from robust to prefrailty among healthy older adults: a 1-year follow-up study

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Key summary points

AbstractSection Aim

This study concerns an investigation of whether social isolation is associated with the new onset of physical frailty among healthy Japanese older adults.

AbstractSection Findings

Fourfold higher risk of developing prefrailty during 1-year follow-up. Friendship-related social isolation increases the risk of prefrailty.

AbstractSection Message

Improving the social isolation of friendship may prevent the transition to frailty.

Abstract

Purpose

Social factors are often overlooked when considering physical frailty. The purpose of this study was to determine whether social isolation is associated with new onset of physical frailty among healthy Japanese older adults.

Methods

This was a 1-year prospective cohort study conducted in Japan from August 2014 to August 2015. The participants were 229 Japanese older people (106 men, 123 women, mean age = 69.3 ± 4.2 years) who did not have prefrailty or frailty at baseline and who were current students or graduates of a community college for older people in Japan. Social isolation was assessed using the Lubben Social Network Scale-6 in terms of overall social isolation, family-related social isolation, and friendship-related social isolation. Frailty was categorized using the Fried frailty criteria. The association between new onset of physical frailty and baseline characteristics, including social isolation, was investigated.

Results

At 1-year follow-up, 180 (78.6%) of the participants remained robust, while 49 (21.4%) were identified as prefrail; no participants were identified as frail. Prefrailty was only associated with friendship-related social isolation (odds ratio: 4.58, 95% confidence interval 2.11–9.92, P < 0.001) at baseline. No significant associations were observed for any other baseline characteristics, including overall social isolation, family-related social isolation, comorbidities, body composition, and physical function.

Conclusion

Older adults with friendship-related social isolation are four times more likely to develop prefrailty from robust during the 1-year follow-up. The results suggest that friendship-related social isolation increases the risk of healthy older adults transitioning from robust to prefrail.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the community volunteers for their collaborative contribution in participating in this project and making this study possible.

Funding

This study was funded by a Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation Research Grant, Chukyo Longevity Medical and Promotion Foundation, JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: JP15K01733, 16K16611), and Research Fund for Longevity Science from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Japan (Grant Number: 25-11). No financial disclosures were reported by any author. The funding bodies had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, or report writing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nutritional Sciences, Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, 57 Takenoyama, Iwasaki-cho, Nisshin, Aichi, 470-0196, Japan

    Chiharu Uno, Kiwako Okada & Eiji Matsushita

  2. Institution of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University, NIC, Chikusa Ward, Furocho, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan

    Chiharu Uno & Masafumi Kuzuya

  3. Section of Frailty Prevention, Department of Frailty Research, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka-cho, Obu, Aichi, 474-8511, Japan

    Shosuke Satake

  4. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Hospital, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka-cho, Obu, Aichi, 474-8511, Japan

    Shosuke Satake

  5. Department of Community Healthcare and Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8560, Japan

    Masafumi Kuzuya

Authors
  1. Chiharu Uno
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  2. Kiwako Okada
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  3. Eiji Matsushita
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  5. Masafumi Kuzuya
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by CU, KO, EM, and MK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CU and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chiharu Uno.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

The present study was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the ethics committee of the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine (approval number: 2013-0055-2) and the ethics committee of the Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences (approval number, 83 [approved on September 10, 2013]).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent to participate

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before the study commenced.

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We have read and understood your journal’s policies, and we believe that neither the manuscript nor the study violates any of these.

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Uno, C., Okada, K., Matsushita, E. et al. Friendship-related social isolation is a potential risk factor for the transition from robust to prefrailty among healthy older adults: a 1-year follow-up study. Eur Geriatr Med 12, 285–293 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-020-00422-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-020-00422-y

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