Social Frailty and Health-Related Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the association between social frailty and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to identify the factors influencing HRQoL in community-dwelling older adults in South Korea. This was a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey study of 735 older adults. HRQoL was measured using the EuroQoL-5 Dimension, and social frailty was measured using five items. The differences in HRQoL according to sociodemographic characteristics, health-related characteristics, and social frailty of subjects were tested using the Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and χ2 test. A Tobit regression model was used to identify the influencing factor of HRQoL. About 31.0% of the older adults were in a social pre-frailty state, and 48.4% were in a social frailty state. Of the five components of social frailty, going out less compared to the previous year and being alone were frequently observed. Older adults who had social frailty had lower HRQoL scores than those who were robust after controlling for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics (BT = −0.04, p < 0.001). Researchers need to consider older adults’ social frailty as well as health status and sociodemographic status in future interventions to improve the HRQoL of older adults.