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Social frailty as a predictor of adverse outcomes among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Background

With the aging of the population, frailty has attracted much attention, and the social dimension of frailty, namely social frailty, has also attracted attention. Studies have shown that social frailty can bring some adverse effects to the elderly, such as physical and cognitive function.

Aims

To explore the risk of adverse health outcomes in older adults with social frailty compared with older adults with non-social frailty.

Methods

Five databases were systematically searched from inception to February 28, 2023. Screening, data extraction and quality assessment were conducted independently by two researchers. The included studies were longitudinal studies of adverse outcomes in community-dwelling socially frail older adults, and the quality of each study was assessed using the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale.

Results

A total of 15 studies were included based on the inclusion criteria, of which 4 were subjected to meta-analysis. The mean age of the included population ranged from 66.3 to 86.5 years. According to existing research, social frailty was predictive of some adverse outcomes, such as incident disability, depressive symptoms, and reduced neuropsychological function. The meta-analysis showed that social frailty had a significant predictive effect on mortality among older adults [HR = 2.27, (95% CI = 1.03–5.00)].

Conclusion

In community-dwelling older adults, social frailty was a predictor of mortality, incident disability, depressive symptoms and other adverse outcomes. Social frailty had a negative impact on older adults, so it was necessary to strengthen the screening of social frailty to reduce the incidence of adverse outcomes.

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Author notes

  1. **n Li and Lan Gao have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Jilin University, No. 965 **njiang Street, Changchun, 130021, Jilin, China

    **n Li, Yiming Qiu, Tangsheng Zhong, Lufang Zheng, Wei Liu, Guichen Li & Li Chen

  2. The First Hospital of Jilin University, No.71 **nmin Street, Changchun, 130021, Jilin, China

    Lan Gao

  3. Department of Pharmacology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Li Chen

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  1. **n Li
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  2. Lan Gao
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Correspondence to Guichen Li or Li Chen.

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Li, X., Gao, L., Qiu, Y. et al. Social frailty as a predictor of adverse outcomes among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 1417–1428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02421-y

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