The relationship between frailty status and psychosocial indices in older Korean adults

Frailty is a heightened vulnerability to physiological stressors caused by cumulative physiological decline over a lifespan. Psychological issues (depression and stress) and social problems (such as loneliness and social isolation) serve as potential risk factors for unfavorable comorbidities, including frailty, cardiometabolic disorders, and unexpected mortality. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between frailty and psychosocial factors in an aging population. The Aging-Cognition Cohort, a subset of the Wonju-Pyeongchang Arirang Cohort, included 930 participants aged 55-79 between 2020 and 2022. Participants underwent a frailty assessment based on Fried's criteria. Pearson's method-based network analysis identified key factors among five psychosocial indices (PSIs). Univariate and multivariate regression (linear and logistic methods) analyses were used to explore the relationship between frailty and the five PSIs. Network analysis revealed differential connectivity between the five PSIs and clinical biomarkers across different frailty conditions. Among psychosocial factors, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale emerged as a key indicator. The association of summarized values of the five PSIs (eigenvalue) and UCLA with frailty exhibited significant results independent of the covariates (eigenvalue: beta-coefficient (B) = -0.018, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.022-0.014; UCLA: B = 0.018, 95% CI 0.012-0.024). The relationship between PSIs and frailty was maintained across all subgroup analyses. This study highlights the robust association between frailty and psychosocial factors in older Korean population.