Gender Differences in Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Pre-Frailty in Japanese Rural Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aki Shibata, Asuka Suzuki () and Kenzo Takahashi
Additional contact information
Aki Shibata: Graduate School of Public Health, Teikyo University, 2 11 1 Kaga Itabashi ku, Tokyo 173 8605, Japan
Asuka Suzuki: Graduate School of Public Health, Teikyo University, 2 11 1 Kaga Itabashi ku, Tokyo 173 8605, Japan
Kenzo Takahashi: Graduate School of Public Health, Teikyo University, 2 11 1 Kaga Itabashi ku, Tokyo 173 8605, Japan

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Purpose: To prevent frailty, it is necessary to focus on pre-frailty and consider preventive interventions that incorporate social aspects. This study aimed to explore socio-demographic associations with pre-frailty, focusing on modifiable social factors among community-dwelling older adults in a rural Japanese city. Methods: We conducted a self-administered survey on social, physical, and mental factors, and basic attributes, in September 2021. Respondents were classified as frail, pre-frail, or healthy according to their The Kihon Checklist scores. Of the 494 valid responses, 93 respondents classified as pre-frail and 110 as healthy were analyzed. The socio-demographic associations with pre-frailty were investigated by multiple logistic regression, and interactions between gender and other factors were examined. Results: The analysis identified that for both genders, no-community participation in middle age (odds ratio [OR], 1.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–2.92) was found to be a social factor associated with pre-frailty. Having friends who listen to one’s concerns (OR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.26–5.10) was a factor for women. Conclusions: This study showed that modifiable social factors associated with pre-frailty were community involvement and being able to share concerns with friends. The findings suggest the need for support that emphasizes social aspects to prevent pre-frailty.

Keywords: frailty; pre-frailty; social factors; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1091/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1091/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1091-:d:1028576

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().