Association Between Access to Health Information and Frailty in Older Japanese Adults: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND

Older adults often access traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, for health information. However, compared with older adults without frailty, older adults with frailty experience greater declines in physical functions and mental health (including depressive symptoms), as well as social functioning, due to reduced interaction with others, which limits their access to these sources of information.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to identify the health information sources that are less accessible to participants with frailty than to those without frailty.

METHODS

A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among independent Japanese adults aged ≥75 years. We assessed frailty using the Questionnaire of Medical Checkup for Old-Old, with a score of ≥4 indicating frailty. Participants were asked whether they had accessed any health information source in the past year, including medical institutions, family members, friends or acquaintances, neighbors, government agencies, long-term care or welfare services, television, radio, the internet, magazines, newspapers, or books. The primary explanatory variable was frailty status. Covariates included age, sex, income, education, living arrangements, and health literacy, measured using the eHealth Literacy Scale.

RESULTS

In total, 1032 participants (n=518, 50.2% male; median age: 77 y) were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that participants with frailty had significantly less access to the following sources of information compared to individuals without frailty: family (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.50-0.95), friends/acquaintances (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.51-0.98), radio (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.31-0.79), and newspapers (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.50-0.88). Sex-based subgroup analyses revealed no significant interaction effects, indicating no heterogeneity in the findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Older adults with frailty were less likely to obtain health information from interpersonal and traditional media sources than did individuals without frailty. Health information providers need to devise strategies for delivering accurate information and improving usability to enable older adults with frailty to proactively access diverse health information.