The trajectory of functional status among older adults with chronic diseases and the association with social relationships

Background: Functional status crucially affects healthy aging. Identifying trajectory of functional status and related determinants is important. We aimed to identify the trajectory of functional status over 6 years among older adults with chronic diseases and its association with social relationships. Methods: A latent class growth model analysis was conducted to explore the trajectory of functional status using three time points over 6 years. After identifying the trajectories, a multi-nominal logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between social relationships and the trajectories. Results: We included data from 458 participants aged ≥65 years with chronic diseases in Japan. Three distinct trajectories were identified, with 73.3% of participants being functionally stable, 16.6% moderate functional decline, and 10.1% rapid functional decline. Good social relationships were associated with a lower probability of having moderate or rapid functional decline trajectories (odds ratio [OR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-0.87 and OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.51-0.78, respectively). Conclusion: Differences were found in the functional trajectories of older adults with chronic disease over time. Older adults with more extensive social relationships appeared less likely to have a poorer functional trajectory. The findings suggest that fostering extensive social relationships could be an effective management strategy for functional decline deterioration.