Social Vulnerability, Frailty and Self-Perceived Health: Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

Social vulnerability interacts with frailty and influences individuals’ health status. Although frailty and social vulnerability are highly predictive of adverse outcomes, their relationship with self-perceived health(SPH) has been less investigated.

Data are from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing(TILDA), a population-based longitudinal study of ageing. We included 4,222 participants aged ≥50 years (age 61.4±8.5 years;women 56%) from Wave 1 (2009–2011) followed over three longitudinal waves (2012,2014–2015,2016). Participants responded to single questions with five response options to rate their 1)physical health, 2) mental health, and 3)health compared to peers. 30-item Frailty (FI) and Social Vulnerability (SVI) indices were calculated using standardised methods. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to establish the association between FI and SVI cross-sectionally and longitudinally over 6 years.

Cross-sectionally, SVI (mean:0.40±0.08; range:0.14–0.81) and FI (mean: 0.13±0.08; range:0.10–0.58) were modestly correlated (r=0.256), and independently associated with poor physical health (SVI: OR 1.43, 95%CI 1.15–1.78; FI: OR 3.16, 95%CI 2.54–3.93), poor mental health (SVI: OR 1.65, 95%CI 1.17–2.35; FI: OR 3.64, 95%CI 2.53–5.24), and poor health compared to peers (SVI: OR 1.41,95%CI 1.06–1.89; FI: OR 3.86, 95%CI 2.9–5.14). Longitudinally, FI and SVI were independently and positively associated with poor physical health (SVI: β 1.08, 95%CI 0.76–1.39; FI: β 1.97, 95%CI 1.58–2.36), poor mental health (SVI: β 1.18, 95%CI 0.86–1.5; FI: β 1.58, 95%CI 1.2–1.97), and poor overall health compared to peers (SVI: β 0.78, 95%CI 0.89–1.33; FI: β 1.74, 95%CI 0.47–1.1).

In a large cohort of community-dwelling older adults, frailty and social vulnerability were associated with poor SPH and with risk of SPH decline over six years.