Current status of social frailty and its associated physical-psychological factors in older adult patients hospitalized with heart failure: a cross-sectional study

AIMS: Our aims were (i) to explore the prevalence of social frailty in older adult patients with heart failure and (ii) to analyze the physical-psychological factors associated with it to inform targeted interventions. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study is a cross-sectional survey employing convenience sampling. Older adults hospitalized for heart failure were recruited at a university-affiliated general hospital in China from October 2022 to August 2023. Self-reported questionnaires measured social frailty, nutritional status, sleep status, depression, activities of daily living, physical frailty, and cognitive status. A total of 350 older adult patients with heart failure (141 women and 209 men) were included. Of the participants, 185 (52.8%) had social frailty; 120 (34.3%) were in the pre-social frailty stage; and 45 (12.9%) did not have social frailty. Ordered multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that marital status, depression, activities of daily living, and physical frailty were independently associated factors on social frailty. Among them, the effect of depression was the most significant (β=0.642, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Social frailty is common among older adult patients with heart failure. Factors such as marital status, depression, activities of daily living, and physical frailty are associated with social frailty. This indicates that measures should be taken to screen for and manage social frailty in patients, and interventions targeting these influencing factors should be developed and implemented to prevent or delay the progression of social frailty.