Associations of lifestyle activities and a heathy diet with frailty in old age: a community-based study in Singapore

Frailty is an age-related state characterized by a reduced physiological reserve, and is associated with adverse health outcomes in the elderly. We analyzed the data from 895 adults aged 60 years and above, and investigated the relationships between midlife and late-life social activities, intellectual activities, working hours, and dietary habits and frailty status. Participation in social or intellectual activities in late life was less prevalent among those who were frail than among those who were robust. A greater proportion of those who were frail had worked long hours in midlife. After adjustment for confounders, participating in social activities or intellectual activities in late life was associated with a reduced risk for prefrailty and frailty, while working long hours in midlife was associated with a higher risk for frailty. The risk of frailty decreased with increasing healthy diet scores in midlife and late life. When the results were stratified by gender, late-life participation in social activities and midlife or late-life participation in intellectual activities correlated negatively with prefrailty/frailty only in women. Our study suggests that social and intellectual activities are inversely associated with frailty status, but the association seems to differ based on gender.