Social Relationships and Onset of Functional Limitation among Older Adults with Chronic Conditions: Does gender matter?

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the longitudinal association between social relationships and physical functioning among community-dwelling older adults with chronic conditions. METHODS: Self-reported questionnaires were distributed and collected between 2014 and 2017 from participants ≥65 years old. The Index of Social Interaction was used to evaluate social relationships and the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) subscale of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence was used to examine functional status. RESULTS: A total of 422 participants (190 males and 232 females) were included in the final analysis. High social relationships demonstrated significant adverse effects (odds ratio [OR] = 0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64–0.93) on the decline of IADL in the overall sample, particularly for females (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.55–0.93) but not as much for males (P = 0.131). CONCLUSION: This finding suggests that functional limitation was influenced by social relationships among disabled older adults and the influence of social relationships on functional limitation differed based on gender.