Association between physical frailty and social support in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review

Older adults with frailty have an increased likelihood of unmet care needs, falls and fractures and so on, which brings serious burdens to society. By evaluating the association between physical frailty and social support in community-dwelling older adults, we will provide reference for preventing the occurrence of frailty. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on association between frailty and social support in community-dwelling older adults were mainly searched from the database of Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus and Web of Science from their establishment to February 16, 2024. After literature screening, two researchers completed data extraction, and the risk of bias was assessed using the 8-item Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies for cross-sectional studies and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for Cohort Studies for longitudinal studies. The study included a total of 14 articles, including 9 cross-sectional studies and 5 longitudinal studies. There was no clear consensus on the correlation between social support and frailty among community-dwelling older adults. The overall quality of the included studies was very high. Although the correlation between social support and frailty among community-dwelling older adults needs further verification, given the important role of social support, it is still recommended that family members provide multi-faceted social support, especially subjective support, for older adults.