Feelings of frailty may signal early signs of ageing at 40 — Study
Feeling lonely or older than your age at 40? According to a study, these negative perceptions about ageing could be early signs of frailty, even in your 40s
- NEW DELHI — Feeling lonely or older than your age at 40? According to a study,
these negative perceptions about ageing could be early signs of frailty, even
in your 40s.
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- Usually associated with older age, frailty is a
recognised medical condition, marked by reduced strength, energy, and ability
to recover from illness.
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- Pre-frailty is the reversible transition stage that comes
before; however, experts say it's ill-defined and requires more understanding.
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- The research, published in the journal BMC Public Health,
showed that it can begin much earlier with subtle psychological and social
cues.
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- "Many people assume frailty is something that
happens when we get much older," said lead author Tom Brennan from
Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute in Australia.
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- "But our research shows the psychological and
behavioural warning signs can emerge decades earlier, in people in their 40s,
50s, and 60s. For example, feeling older than you are, might sound like a
throwaway comment, but it turns out it can be a sign that something's not quite
right,” he added.
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- For the study, the researchers analysed data from 321
Australian adults aged 40 and over; 60 per cent of participants were classified
as pre-frail, 35 per cent as non-frail, and 5 per cent as frail.
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- The analysis found that both pre-frail and frail
individuals were more likely to report loneliness and negative attitudes toward
aging, compared to non-frail participants.
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- "Loneliness was one of the strongest predictors of
pre-frailty in our sample, highlighting that social isolation is a critical
factor that can affect overall resilience, even in a relatively healthy and
mobile population," Brennan said.
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- Another key finding was that pre-frail individuals
commonly reported feeling older than their chronological age, even when
physical health markers were within expected ranges.
