Assessment tools for social frailty in older adults based on COSMIN guidelines: A systematic review - PubMed
2 hours ago
- #older adults
- #measurement properties
- #social frailty
- Social frailty in older adults involves reduced social engagement, lack of social resources, and prolonged isolation, leading to risks like depression, cognitive decline, and mortality.
- This systematic review evaluates the measurement properties and methodological quality of social frailty assessment instruments using COSMIN guidelines and a modified GRADE approach.
- It included 21 studies covering 13 instrument families, finding structural validity and internal consistency commonly reported for reflective/mixed instruments, and hypothesis testing for formative ones.
- The social life and socioeconomic deprivation subscales of the Chinese Social Frailty Index received a category A recommendation, while the Persian Social Frailty Scale was category C, with others as category B.
- Key evidence gaps exist in cross-cultural validity or measurement invariance, measurement error, and responsiveness, highlighting the need for further instrument validation and refinement.