Social Frailty and Executive Function: Association with Geriatric Syndromes, Life Space and Quality of Life in Healthy Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Despite emerging evidence about the association between social frailty and cognitive impairment, little is known about the role of executive function in this interplay, and whether the co-existence of social frailty and cognitive impairment predisposes to adverse health outcomes in healthy community-dwelling older adults. OBJECTIVES: We aim to examine independent associations between social frailty with the MMSE and FAB, and to determine if having both social frailty and cognitive impairment is associated with worse health outcomes than either or neither condition. METHODS: We studied 229 cognitively intact and functionally independent community-dwelling older adults (mean age= 67.2±7.43). Outcome measures comprise physical activity; physical performance and frailty; geriatric syndromes; life space and quality of life. We compared Chinese Mini Mental State Examination (CMMSE) and Chinese Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) scores across the socially non-frail, socially pre-frail and socially frail. Participants were further recategorized into three subgroups (neither, either or both) based on presence of social frailty and cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment was defined as a score below the educational adjusted cut-offs in either CMMSE or FAB. We performed logistic regression adjusted for significant covariates and mood to examine association with outcomes across the three subgroups. RESULTS: Compared with CMMSE, Chinese FAB scores significantly decreased across the social frailty spectrum (p<0.001), suggesting strong association between executive function with social frailty. We derived three subgroups relative to relationship with socially frailty and executive dysfunction: (i) Neither, N=140(61.1%), (ii) Either, N=79(34.5%), and (iii) Both, N=10(4.4%). Compared with neither or either subgroups, having both social frailty and executive dysfunction was associated with anorexia (OR=4.79, 95% CI= 1.04-22.02), near falls and falls (OR= 5.23, 95% CI= 1.10-24.90), lower life-space mobility (odds ratio, OR=9.80, 95% CI=2.07-46.31) and poorer quality of life (OR= 13.2, 95% CI= 2.38-73.4). CONCLUSION: Our results explicated the association of executive dysfunction with social frailty, and their synergistic relationship independent of mood with geriatric syndromes, decreased life space and poorer quality of life. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the association between social frailty and executive dysfunction merits further study as a possible target for early intervention in relatively healthy older adults.

Viral lung infections and the potential for a human pandemic

Some newly emerging viral lung infections have the potential to cause large outbreaks of severe respiratory disease amongst humans. In this contribution we discuss infections by influenza A (H5N1), SARS and Hanta virus. The H5N1 subtype of avian influenza (bird flu) has crossed the species barrier and causes severe illness in humans. So far, 328 humans in twelve countries have contracted the disease and 200 have died. The young are particularly affected. Oseltamivir is the antiviral drug of choice and should be given as early as possible. Patients require supportive care, often including invasive ventilation. If H5N1 develops the ability to transmit efficiently between humans, an influenza pandemic is likely. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was first seen in China in 2002. The outbreak was finally contained in 2003, by which time 8098 probable SARS cases had been identified with at least 774 deaths. The virus was identified in 2003 as belonging to the coronaviridae family. SARS is transmitted between humans and clusters have been seen. The mainstay of treatment is supportive. Various antiviral agents and adjunctive therapies were tried but none were conclusively effective. Hanta virus is an emerging cause of viral lung disease. In 1993, a new species of Hanta virus was recognized, after an outbreak of a new rapidly progressive pulmonary syndrome in the US, 465 cases of ‘Sin Nombre’ virus have now been seen in the US with a mortality rate of 35%. Many of the confirmed cases had contact with rodents (the major host of hanta viruses). Treatment is supportive, as there is no specific therapy. FAU - Roberts, Helen