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. 2014 Mar;44(4):697-706.
doi: 10.1017/S0033291713001384. Epub 2013 Jul 3.

Psychological well-being and incident frailty in men and women: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

C R Gale  1 , C Cooper  1 , I J Deary  2 , A Aihie Sayer  1
Affiliations

Psychological well-being and incident frailty in men and women: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

C R Gale et al. Psychol Med. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Observations that older people who enjoy life more tend to live longer suggest that psychological well-being may be a potential resource for healthier ageing. We investigated whether psychological well-being was associated with incidence of physical frailty.

Method: We used multinomial logistic regression to examine the prospective relationship between psychological well-being, assessed using the CASP-19, a questionnaire that assesses perceptions of control, autonomy, self-realization and pleasure, and incidence of physical frailty or pre-frailty, defined according to the Fried criteria (unintentional weight loss, weakness, self-reported exhaustion, slow walking speed and low physical activity), in 2557 men and women aged 60 to ≥ 90 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

Results: Men and women with higher levels of psychological well-being were less likely to become frail over the 4-year follow-up period. For a standard deviation higher score in psychological well-being at baseline, the relative risk ratio (RR) for incident frailty, adjusted for age, sex and baseline frailty status, was 0.46 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40-0.54]. There was a significant association between psychological well-being and risk of pre-frailty (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.63-0.77). Examination of scores for hedonic (pleasure) and eudaimonic (control, autonomy and self-realization) well-being showed that higher scores on both were associated with decreased risk. Associations were partially attenuated by further adjustment for other potential confounding factors but persisted. Incidence of pre-frailty or frailty was associated with a decline in well-being, suggesting that the relationship is bidirectional.

Conclusions: Maintaining a stronger sense of psychological well-being in later life may protect against the development of physical frailty. Future research needs to establish the mechanisms underlying these findings.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fully adjusted relative risk ratios for being pre-frail or frail at follow-up according to quarters of the distribution of psychological wellbeing at baseline. People in the lowest quarter of the distribution are the reference group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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