A Longitudinal Study of Social Participation and the Onset of Disability Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With...

This study aimed to longitudinally examine the association between social participation and disability onset among older adults with varying incomes.

We conducted an observational prospective population-based cohort study involving 4494 older adults (55.9% female, mean age 73.8 ± 5.4 years) enrolled in the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology-Study of Geriatric Syndromes (NCGG-SGS). Income was assessed using household income, and social participation was evaluated through seven items.

During a 2-year follow-up, 235 participants (5.2%) were newly certified with a disability. In analyses that considered both income level and the number of social participation items, the low-income and high-social participation group had a lower risk than the low-income and low-social participation group (HR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.49-0.94). Importantly, the types of activities associated with reduced risk differed by income group: in the high-income group, 'Visit friends' (HR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.33-0.89) and 'Shopping' (HR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.11-0.68) and in the low-income group, 'Visit friends' (HR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.40-0.88), 'Exercise circle' (HR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.33-0.72) and 'Advice' (HR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.26-0.64) were relevant.

These findings indicate that maintaining social participation, particularly through familiar and accessible activities, may contribute to a lower risk of disability among older adults, even among those with limited income.