The mediating role of chronic disease in socioeconomic inequalities in frailty: A longitudinal cohort study of older adults in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IF 3.3 Q2 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY
Carlos de Mestral, Saman Khalatbari-Soltani, Patrick Bodenmann, Yves Henchoz, Mauricio Avendano
{"title":"The mediating role of chronic disease in socioeconomic inequalities in frailty: A longitudinal cohort study of older adults in Lausanne, Switzerland.","authors":"Carlos de Mestral, Saman Khalatbari-Soltani, Patrick Bodenmann, Yves Henchoz, Mauricio Avendano","doi":"10.1016/j.tjfa.2026.100134","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Frailty is a major public health concern in aging populations. Socioeconomic disadvantage increases the risk of frailty, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To examine the mediating role of chronic diseases in the longitudinal association between socioeconomic disadvantage and frailty.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Population-based cohort study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>Lausanne, Switzerland.</p><p><strong>Participants: </strong>4731 community-dwelling adults aged 65-70 years at recruitment (2004, 2010, and 2014), followed for up to 16 years, as part of the Lausanne Cohort 65+.</p><p><strong>Intervention: </strong>None.</p><p><strong>Measurements: </strong>Socioeconomic disadvantage was assessed using indicators of education, occupation, income, health insurance subsidy, and financial strain. Frailty was measured using the Fried phenotype (unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, weakness, and slow walking speed). Chronic conditions (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and multimorbidity [≥2 conditions]) were assessed at baseline using standardized self-reported physician diagnoses. Counterfactual mediation using Cox proportional hazards models estimated the proportion of the socioeconomic disadvantage-frailty association mediated by each condition.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with a 1.5-2.5-fold higher risk of incident frailty. Obesity mediated 13-55% of this association, diabetes 11-22%, and multimorbidity 21-39%, whereas hypertension, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease showed minimal or no mediation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Chronic diseases-particularly obesity and diabetes-partly explain the long-term impact of socioeconomic disadvantage on frailty, underscoring stark inequities in healthy aging. Early detection and management of these conditions in socioeconomically vulnerable older adults, alongside population-level prevention and efforts to address adverse socioeconomic conditions as root causes, could help reduce these inequalities.</p>","PeriodicalId":51629,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Frailty & Aging","volume":"15 3","pages":"100134"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13019564/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Frailty & Aging","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjfa.2026.100134","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Frailty is a major public health concern in aging populations. Socioeconomic disadvantage increases the risk of frailty, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear.

Objectives: To examine the mediating role of chronic diseases in the longitudinal association between socioeconomic disadvantage and frailty.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Setting: Lausanne, Switzerland.

Participants: 4731 community-dwelling adults aged 65-70 years at recruitment (2004, 2010, and 2014), followed for up to 16 years, as part of the Lausanne Cohort 65+.

Intervention: None.

Measurements: Socioeconomic disadvantage was assessed using indicators of education, occupation, income, health insurance subsidy, and financial strain. Frailty was measured using the Fried phenotype (unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, weakness, and slow walking speed). Chronic conditions (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and multimorbidity [≥2 conditions]) were assessed at baseline using standardized self-reported physician diagnoses. Counterfactual mediation using Cox proportional hazards models estimated the proportion of the socioeconomic disadvantage-frailty association mediated by each condition.

Results: Socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with a 1.5-2.5-fold higher risk of incident frailty. Obesity mediated 13-55% of this association, diabetes 11-22%, and multimorbidity 21-39%, whereas hypertension, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease showed minimal or no mediation.

Conclusions: Chronic diseases-particularly obesity and diabetes-partly explain the long-term impact of socioeconomic disadvantage on frailty, underscoring stark inequities in healthy aging. Early detection and management of these conditions in socioeconomically vulnerable older adults, alongside population-level prevention and efforts to address adverse socioeconomic conditions as root causes, could help reduce these inequalities.

慢性疾病在虚弱的社会经济不平等中的中介作用:瑞士洛桑老年人的纵向队列研究。
背景:衰弱是老龄化人群中一个主要的公共卫生问题。社会经济劣势增加了脆弱的风险,但这种关联背后的机制尚不清楚。目的:探讨慢性病在社会经济劣势与衰弱的纵向关联中的中介作用。设计:基于人群的队列研究。环境:瑞士洛桑。参与者:4731名在招募时(2004年、2010年和2014年)年龄在65-70岁之间的社区居民,作为洛桑65岁以上队列的一部分,随访长达16年。干预:没有。测量方法:使用教育、职业、收入、医疗保险补贴和财政压力等指标评估社会经济劣势。虚弱是用弗里德表型(无意中体重减轻、疲惫、低体力活动、虚弱和缓慢的步行速度)来测量的。慢性疾病(肥胖、糖尿病、高血压、心血管和呼吸系统疾病以及多病[≥2种疾病])在基线时使用标准化的自我报告医师诊断进行评估。利用Cox比例风险模型进行反事实中介,估计各条件介导的社会经济劣势-脆弱性关联的比例。结果:社会经济劣势与1.5-2.5倍的突发虚弱风险相关。肥胖介导了其中13-55%的关联,糖尿病介导11-22%,多病介导21-39%,而高血压、心血管和呼吸系统疾病介导的关联很小或没有。结论:慢性疾病——尤其是肥胖和糖尿病——部分解释了社会经济劣势对虚弱的长期影响,强调了健康老龄化的严重不平等。在社会经济上脆弱的老年人中早期发现和管理这些疾病,同时在人口层面进行预防,并努力解决不利的社会经济条件作为根本原因,可以帮助减少这些不平等。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Journal of Frailty & Aging
Journal of Frailty & Aging GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY-
CiteScore
5.90
自引率
7.70%
发文量
54
期刊介绍: The Journal of Frailty & Aging is a peer-reviewed international journal aimed at presenting articles that are related to research in the area of aging and age-related (sub)clinical conditions. In particular, the journal publishes high-quality papers describing and discussing social, biological, and clinical features underlying the onset and development of frailty in older persons.          The Journal of Frailty & Aging is composed by five different sections: - Biology of frailty and aging In this section, the journal presents reports from preclinical studies and experiences focused at identifying, describing, and understanding the subclinical pathophysiological mechanisms at the basis of frailty and aging. - Physical frailty and age-related body composition modifications Studies exploring the physical and functional components of frailty are contained in this section. Moreover, since body composition plays a major role in determining physical frailty and, at the same time, represents the most evident feature of the aging process, special attention is given to studies focused on sarcopenia and obesity at older age. - Neurosciences of frailty and aging The section presents results from studies exploring the cognitive and neurological aspects of frailty and age-related conditions. In particular, papers on neurodegenerative conditions of advanced age are welcomed. - Frailty and aging in clinical practice and public health This journal’s section is devoted at presenting studies on clinical issues of frailty and age-related conditions. This multidisciplinary section particularly welcomes reports from clinicians coming from different backgrounds and specialties dealing with the heterogeneous clinical manifestations of advanced age. Moreover, this part of the journal also contains reports on frailty- and age-related social and public health issues. - Clinical trials and therapeutics This final section contains all the manuscripts presenting data on (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) interventions aimed at preventing, delaying, or treating frailty and age-related conditions.The Journal of Frailty & Aging is a quarterly publication of original papers, review articles, case reports, controversies, letters to the Editor, and book reviews. Manuscripts will be evaluated by the editorial staff and, if suitable, by expert reviewers assigned by the editors. The journal particularly welcomes papers by researchers from different backgrounds and specialities who may want to share their views and experiences on the common themes of frailty and aging.The abstracting and indexing of the Journal of Frailty & Aging is covered by MEDLINE (approval by the National Library of Medicine in February 2016).
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:604180095
Book学术官方微信
小红书