ArticleAge and ageing2024
The temporal sequence and reciprocal relationships of frailty, social isolation and loneliness in older adults across 21 years.
Article in Age and ageing, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Real experiences and care needs of frail older patients: a systematic review of qualitative studies.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Meaning of home among community-dwelling older adults with health concerns: a reflexive thematic analysis.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Incremental Information from Repeated Loneliness Assessments in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Bidirectional associations between loneliness and physical multimorbidity and the mediating role of social inactivity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Frailty and Social Isolation of Elderly Prostate Cancer Patients: A Chain Mediating and Network Analysis of Illness Perception and Acceptance.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Joint trajectories of sleep deviation risk and frailty and their associations with cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults: a population-based cohort study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Rethinking health-care systems to tackle social isolation and frailty.The Lancet. Public health · 2026Review
- Exploring heart rate variability as a biomarker for frailty: A narrative review.European journal of clinical investigation · 2026Review
- Longitudinal bidirectional associations among sarcopenia risk, social isolation, and frailty in Chinese older adults using an item response theory-derived frailty index.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Can human connection amplify digital health outcomes? Familial involvement in a mobile health app.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- The mediating role of sarcopenia in the link between loneliness and frailty among nursing home residents: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Together, but Isolated: A Dyadic Study of Social Isolation in Older Adults and Caregivers.Journal of aging and health · 2025Article
- The Epidemiology of Social Isolation and Loneliness Among Family and Unpaid Caregivers of Older Adults: Findings From the National Study of Caregiving.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- The impact of depression and associated anxiety symptoms on clinical outcomes in elderly inpatients with digestive system diseases in Southwest China: a retrospective cohort study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam: design and cohort update 2025.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Frailty and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults: examining reciprocal associations within a measurement burst design.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Relationship between social capital and medication adherence among frail and pre-frail older people: a cross-sectional study from China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Community-based physical and social activity for older adults with mild frailty: a rapid qualitative study of a collaborative intervention pilot.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is unclear whether social isolation and loneliness may precede frailty status or whether frailty may precipitate social isolation and loneliness. We investigated the reciprocal and temporal sequence of social isolation, loneliness, and frailty among older adults across 21 years.
methodsWe used seven waves of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam from 2302 Dutch older adults (M = 72.6 years, SD = 8.6, 52.1% female) ages 55 or older. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models, we investigated between- and within-person associations of social isolation and loneliness with frailty. Frailty was measured using the Frailty Index. Loneliness was measured using the 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Social isolation was measured using a multi-domain 6-item scale.
resultsSocial isolation and loneliness were weakly correlated across waves. At the between-person level, individuals with higher levels of frailty tended to have higher levels of social isolation but not loneliness. At the within-person level, the cross-lagged paths indicated that earlier frailty status predicted future social isolation and loneliness over time. However, prior social isolation was not associated with subsequent frailty except at time point 5 (T5). Loneliness at specific time points (T1, T4 and T6) predicted greater frailty at later time points (T2, T5 and T7). The results also supported reciprocal and contemporaneous relations between social isolation, loneliness and frailty.
conclusionsSocial isolation and loneliness are potential outcomes of frailty. Public health policies and health practitioners should prioritise interventions targeting social connection among older adults with pre-frailty or frailty.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.