Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationship between frailty and life satisfaction and the roles of age and social vulnerability underlying the links in Chinese older adults.
Material and methods: Using a cross-sectional sample of 1970 adults aged 65 and older in 2013 in Shanghai, we employed regression analyses to investigate the interaction between frailty and age on life satisfaction in the whole sample and in different social vulnerability groups. Life satisfaction was measured using a sum score of satisfaction with thirteen domains. Using a cumulative deficit approach, frailty was constructed from fifty-two variables and social vulnerability was derived from thirty-five variables.
Results: Frailty was negatively associated with life satisfaction. The interaction between frailty and age was significant for life satisfaction, such that the negative association between frailty and life satisfaction was stronger among the young-old aged 65-79 than among the old-old aged 80+. Moreover, frailty's stronger association with life satisfaction in the young-old than in the old-old was only found among those in the 2nd and 3rd tertiles of social vulnerability, but not for those in the 1st tertile of social vulnerability.
Conclusions: Relation between frailty and life satisfaction likely weakens with age. A higher level of social vulnerability enlarges the negative impact of frailty on life satisfaction with a greater extent in the young-old.
Keywords: Aged; Frail elderly; Personal satisfaction; Social vulnerability; Socioeconomic factors.
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