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Social isolation is associated with future decline of physical performance in community-dwelling older adults: a 1-year longitudinal study

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Abstract

Background

Social isolation and decline of physical function, such as muscle strength and physical performance, are known to be associated with deterioration of functional capacity. However, the relationship between social isolation and physical function has not been sufficiently clarified by a longitudinal observational study.

Aims

The aim of this study was to examine whether social isolation is associated with a future decline in physical function in older people.

Methods

The participants were 166 community-dwelling older people (aged ≥ 65 years). Social isolation and physical function were assessed using the 6-item Lubben Social Network Scale and handgrip strength, knee extensor strength, usual walking time, and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test in both the baseline and follow-up surveys. To define the presence or absence of physical function decline over time, we used the minimal detectable change. The associations between social isolation and physical function were analyzed using logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounding factors. Further, to examine the possibility of drop-out bias, inverse probability weighting (IPW) was performed.

Results

The results of the logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounding factors showed social isolation at baseline was significantly associated with future TUG decline (OR 2.88, 95% CI 1.15–7.22). Social isolation was not associated with a decline in other physical functions. Similar results were found in an analysis using IPW.

Conclusions

Social isolation was an independent risk factor for future TUG decline in community-dwelling older people. Our results indicated that assessment of social isolation may be necessary to assess the risk of physical performance decline.

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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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Funding

This study was funded by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number 19K11394). The funders played no role in the design, methods, subject recruitment, data collection, analysis, or preparation of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-0373, Japan

    Keigo Imamura, Naoto Kamide & Miki Sakamoto

  2. School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Japan

    Naoto Kamide, Masataka Ando & Miki Sakamoto

  3. Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kansai Medical University, Hirakata, Japan

    Haruhiko Sato

  4. School of Health Sciences, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan

    Yoshitaka Shiba

Authors
  1. Keigo Imamura
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  2. Naoto Kamide
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  3. Masataka Ando
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  4. Haruhiko Sato
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  5. Miki Sakamoto
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  6. Yoshitaka Shiba
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Contributions

KI and NK contributed to the study conception and design, acquisition of subjects and data, analysis and interpretation of data, and preparation of the manuscript. MA, HS, MS, and YS contributed to THE acquisition of subjects and data, and interpretation of data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KI and NK, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naoto Kamide.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures in this study that involved human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of the School of Allied Health Sciences at Kitasato University [approval number 2018-008B] and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

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

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Imamura, K., Kamide, N., Ando, M. et al. Social isolation is associated with future decline of physical performance in community-dwelling older adults: a 1-year longitudinal study. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 1391–1398 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-02050-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-02050-3

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