The mediating role of sarcopenia in the link between loneliness and frailty among nursing home residents: a cross-sectional study.

IF 3.8 2区医学 Q2 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

BMC Geriatrics Pub Date : 2025-09-26 DOI:10.1186/s12877-025-06342-5

Zhenfei Chen, Dongxing Zheng, Shangqing Wu, Jiaze Dai, Haiman Huang, Yu Yang

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Abstract

Background: The present work focused on investigating the frailty status of older nursing home residents by analyzing the relationships among loneliness, sarcopenia, and frailty. The study explored the mediating effect of sarcopenia on loneliness and frailty among elderly individuals.

Methods: From January to June 2022, 190 elderly individuals were enrolled from four nursing homes in Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhanjiang, and Nanning using a convenience sampling method. A field survey was conducted using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Frailty Phenotype, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the SARC-F screening tool. The data were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 and Process 4.1 software. Normally distributed continuous variables are presented as the means ± standard deviations (Mean±SD) . Associations among loneliness, sarcopenia, and frailty were assessed via Pearson correlation analysis. Moreover, the mediating effect of sarcopenia on loneliness and frailty was examined via linear regression. The bootstrap method in Process 4.1 was employed to test its mediating effect.

Results: The frailty prevalence among elderly nursing home residents was 34.74%. The loneliness score was positively related to the frailty score (r = 0.156, P < 0.05, 95% CI:0.014-0.292), the sarcopenia score was positively related to the frailty score (r = 0.512, P < 0.01, 95% CI:0.399-0.610), and the loneliness score was positively related to the sarcopenia score (r = 0.214, P < 0.01, 95%CI:0.074-0.346). Sarcopenia demonstrated a complete mediating effect on loneliness and frailty among elderly nursing home residents. Sarcopenia typically achieved a mediating effect of 0.107 (95% CI: 0.026-0.197), accounting for 68.59% of the overall effect.

Conclusions: Sarcopenia is a key factor influencing the occurrence of frailty in lonely elderly individuals in nursing homes.

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骨骼肌减少症在养老院居民孤独与脆弱之间的中介作用：一项横断面研究。

背景：本研究通过分析孤独、肌肉减少症和衰弱之间的关系，调查老年人的衰弱状况。本研究探讨肌肉减少症对老年人孤独和虚弱的中介作用。方法：采用方便抽样法，于2022年1 - 6月在广州、东莞、湛江、南宁4个城市的养老机构对190名老年人进行调查。采用社会人口学问卷、脆弱表型、UCLA孤独量表和SARC-F筛选工具进行实地调查。采用SPSS 25.0和Process 4.1软件对数据进行分析。正态分布的连续变量以均数±标准差（Mean±SD）表示。通过Pearson相关分析评估孤独感、肌肉减少症和虚弱之间的关系。此外，通过线性回归检验了肌肉减少症对孤独和脆弱的中介作用。采用流程4.1中的自举法检验其中介效应。结果：老年人的脆弱患病率为34.74%。结论：骨骼肌减少症是影响养老院独居老人虚弱发生的关键因素。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

BMC Geriatrics GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY-

CiteScore

5.70

自引率

7.30%

发文量

873

审稿时长

20 weeks

期刊介绍： BMC Geriatrics is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of the health and healthcare of older people, including the effects of healthcare systems and policies. The journal also welcomes research focused on the aging process, including cellular, genetic, and physiological processes and cognitive modifications.