Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Frailty in Older Adults: A Risk Assessment

The recent articles by Kojima et al 1 Kojima G. Aoyama R. Tanabe M. Associations between social isolation and physical frailty in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022; 23: e3-e6 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar ,2 Kojima G. Taniguchi Y. Aoyama R. Tanabe M. Associations between loneliness and physical frailty in community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2022; 81101705 Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar on the relationship among social isolation, loneliness, and frailty offer unique insights while at the same time posing new questions. The authors' meta-analysis of prospective studies on social isolation and frailty failed to find a significant association. However, Kojima and colleagues 2 Kojima G. Taniguchi Y. Aoyama R. Tanabe M. Associations between loneliness and physical frailty in community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2022; 81101705 Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar did find a significant relationship between loneliness and frailty in older adults with a pooled odds ratio (95% CI) of 1.41 (1.16–1.72).