- Data, Statistics and AI for Well-Being of People and Organisations
- A cura di Luigi Fabbris, Alberto Franci, Pietro Renzi
Ageing unevenly: How demographic and social factors shape frailty in Europe
- Giulia Cavrini
- Viviana Egidi
- Agostino Stavolo
- Román Romero-Ortuño
- © 2026 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1.25
This study investigates the prevalence and progression of frailty among older adults across Europe, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). It explores regional disparities and assesses the influence of sociodemographic and social factors, such as loneliness, social engagement, and family support, on frailty status. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted separately using SHARE Waves 6, 8 and 9 (release 9.0.0), focusing on non-institutionalized individuals aged 50 and above from 17 European countries. Frailty was assessed according to the criteria proposed by Santos-Eggimann: muscle weakness, exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, slowness, and low physical activity. One point was assigned for each criterion met, and participants were classified as non-frail (0 points), pre-frail (1–2 points), or frail (3–5 points). Multilevel multinomial logistic models were applied to estimate associations between frailty status and both individual- and country-level predictors, using the non-frail group as the reference. Welfare characteristics, poverty rate, percentage of people with a low educational level, and self-perceived health were included as key contextual variables at the country level. Frailty prevalence varied significantly across countries, with approximately 6% of the variability attributable to national-level differences. Higher prevalence rates were observed in Southern European countries, including Italy (13.2%), Spain (13.4%), Greece (13.9%), and Portugal (20.8%). In contrast, the lowest rates were found in Switzerland (4.4%), Sweden (6.0%), and Denmark (6.4%). Frailty and pre-frailty were more common among older individuals, women, and those with lower educational attainment. Among social factors, perceived loneliness and low participation in social activities emerged as the strongest predictors of frailty and pre-frailty. The regional disparities highlight the importance of psychosocial and cultural contexts, as well as the role of national welfare systems, in shaping frailty outcomes in later life. Notably, the inclusion of country-level variables reduced the unexplained variability to 0.007.
- Keywords:
- Frailty,
- Older adults,
- Social determinants of health,
- Country inequalities,
- Multilevel logistic models,
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-9084-3081
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-9264-5882
University of Naples Federico II, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-5890-2195
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland - ORCID: 0000-0002-3882-7447
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Informazioni sul capitolo
Titolo del capitolo
Ageing unevenly: How demographic and social factors shape frailty in Europe
Autori
Giulia Cavrini, Viviana Egidi, Agostino Stavolo, Román Romero-Ortuño
Lingua
Inglese
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1.25
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Informazioni bibliografiche
Titolo del libro
Data, Statistics and AI for Well-Being of People and Organisations
Curatori
Luigi Fabbris, Alberto Franci, Pietro Renzi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
420
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1061-4
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1062-1
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1063-8
Collana
Applied Statistics Series