Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of social isolation and
loneliness, both individually and simultaneously, on changes in grip strength among
Chinese older adults and whether these relations vary by gender.
Design
A 4-year prospective observational study.
Setting and Participants
This study used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).
Analyses were conducted with data from 2 waves (2011 and 2015) and were restricted
to those respondents aged 50 and older [n = 7025, mean age (SD) = 61.46 (7.59); male, 48.4%].
Methods
Social isolation, loneliness, and grip strength were measured at baseline. Follow-up
measures of grip strength were obtained 4 years later. Multiple linear regression
was used to evaluate the associations among baseline isolation, loneliness, and decline
of grip strength between 2 waves after adjustment for age, gender, education, body
mass index, chronic diseases, smoking and drinking status, activities of daily living
(ADL) and instrumental ADL disabilities, and depressive symptoms.
Results
For women, baseline loneliness (β = 0.04, P = .035) rather than isolation (β = 0.03, P = .110) significantly predicted grip strength decline after 4 years when other confounding
variables were taken into account. For men, baseline isolation (β = 0.05, P = .005) rather than loneliness (β = 0.01, P = .570) significantly predicted grip strength decline. No synergistic effect of isolation
and loneliness on grip strength was found for either women or men.
Conclusions and Implications
In this prospective study, gender differences were found for the associations of social
isolation and loneliness with grip strength decline. Our results suggest that older
women and men may benefit from different social enhancement strategies for prevention
of physical function decline.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 25, 2020
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation, China (grant number 18BSH118).
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
