Survey on social isolation and related factor of older adults with relatives living with them in rural areas

Shunsuke Yamashina, Kiwamu Nagoshi, Shinya Matumoto, Kaori Taniguchi
Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual state of social isolation among older adults with relatives living with them in a rural area, and to examine the related factors.

Methods:

The study design was a cross-sectional study. The subjects were older adults living in rural areas who participated in an annual health event. Inclusion criteria were as follows: age 65 years or older, independent level of daily living, and living with relatives. The survey items were social isolation (social isolation was defined as less than one contact per week with persons other than relatives living together), muscle strength (grip strength), balance function (Short Physical Performance Battery: SPPB), walking ability (5 m fast walking time), cognitive function (Mini-Cog), gender, age, height, and weight. First, based on the above criteria, we classified the respondents into two groups, with and without social isolation, and calculated descriptive statistics for each factor. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine related factors, with social isolation as the dependent variable (with social isolation as category 1), grip strength, SPPB, 5mWT, and Mini-Cog as independent variables, and the other items listed above as confounding factors.

Results:

There were 106 subjects. There were 46 (43%, 13 males) in the group with social isolation and 60 (57%, 11 males) in the group with no social isolation. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a significant difference in SPPB at p0.05, with an odds ratio of 0.57 (95% confidence interval: 0.38-0.99) for SPPB.


Conclusion(s):

In this study, social isolation was a result of being more advanced than the Japanese average and that of urban areas. The balance function was a factor related to social isolation.

Implications:

It is necessary to investigate the cause of the high level of social isolation in the rural areas where the older adults have relatives who live with them. In this study, the balance function is relevant, and we believe that clarifying the relationship between the two in the future will allow us to consider support measures for the older adults.

Funding acknowledgements:
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant Number JP 23K16611.
Keywords:
community-dwelling older adults
social isolation
rural areas
Primary topic:
Community based rehabilitation
Second topic:
Health promotion and wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Third topic:
Globalisation: health systems, policies and strategies
Did this work require ethics approval?:
Yes
Name the institution and ethics committee that approved your work:
Research Ethics Committee of Taira Hospital
Provide the ethics approval number:
approval number: 2022-002
Has any of this material been/due to be published or presented at another national or international conference prior to the World Physiotherapy Congress 2025?:
No

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