Assessing the social dimension of frailty in old age: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Different concepts of frailty have resulted in different assessment tools covering distinct dimensions. Despite the growing recognition that there is an association between frailty and social factors, there's a lack of clarity on what is being assessed in terms of "social aspects" of frailty.

Objective: This paper provides a review of frailty assessment instruments (screening tools and severity measures) with a special focus on their social components.

Methods: Systematic review of studies published in English between 2001 and March 2018 in the PubMed database using a combination of MeSH Terms and logical operators through inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: A total of 27 assessment tools including at least one social question were identified. Three instruments focuses exclusively on social frailty, whereas the weight of social dimensions in the other instruments ranges between 5% and 43%. Social activities, social support, social network, loneliness and living alone were the social concepts most represented by the social components of the various frailty instruments.

Conclusion: Social components of frailty vary from instrument to instrument and cover the concepts of social isolation, loneliness, social network, social support and social participation.

Keywords: Frailty; Isolation; Loneliness; Social activities; Social networks; Social support.