Prevalence and Associated Factors of Social Frailty in Older Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: A Multi-Centre...

Given that social frailty is closely associated with adverse health outcomes among older maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of social frailty among older MHD patients, with an emphasis on its correlation with factors such as family functioning, self-care ability, depression, and physical frailty.

A multi-center cross-sectional investigation was conducted to recruit older patients with MHD between September and December 2024 from four hemodialysis centers in four tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. Self-report scales were employed to collect general information and assess the participants' social frailty, family functioning, depression, and physical frailty. Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were adopted to determine the predictors of social frailty.

A total of 386 older MHD patients were included in the analysis. Of the participants, 205 (53.1%) were diagnosed with social frailty. Binary logistic regression analyses demonstrated that family functioning (OR = 0.863, 95% CI: 0.776-0.960, p = 0.007), self-care ability (OR = 3.527, 95% CI: 1.958-6.352, p < 0.001), depression (OR = 2.007, 95% CI: 1.180-3.415, p = 0.010), and physical frailty (OR = 2.261, 95% CI: 1.237-4.133, p = 0.008) were significantly associated with social frailty among older MHD patients.

Social frailty is highly prevalent among older patients with MHD. In addition, family function, self-care ability, depression, and physical frailty were detected to be independently associated with social frailty. These findings could facilitate the refinement of daily care strategies for older patients with MHD to reduce or mitigate the negative effects of social frailty.