Background: We currently still lack valid methods to dynamically measure resilience for stressors before the appearance of adverse health outcomes that hamper well-being. Quantifying an older adult's resilience in an early stage would aid complex decision-making in health care. Translating complex dynamical systems theory to humans, we hypothesized that three dynamical indicators of resilience (variance, temporal autocorrelation, and cross-correlation) in time series of self-rated physical, mental, and social health were associated with frailty levels in older adults. Methods: We monitored self-rated physical, mental, and social health during 100 days using daily visual analogue scale questions in 22 institutionalized older adults (mean age 84.0, SD: 5.9 years). Frailty was determined by the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) frailty index. The resilience indicators (variance, temporal autocorrelation, and cross-correlation) were calculated using multilevel models. Results: The self-rated health time series of frail elderly exhibited significantly elevated variance in the physical, mental, and social domain, as well as significantly stronger cross-correlations between all three domains, as compared to the nonfrail group (all P < 0.001). Temporal autocorrelation was not significantly associated with frailty. Conclusions: We found supporting evidence for two out of three hypothesized resilience indicators to be related to frailty levels in older adults. By mirroring the dynamical resilience indicators to a frailty index, we delivered a first empirical base to validate and quantify the construct of systemic resilience in older adults in a dynamic way.
CITATION STYLE
Gijzel, S. M. W., Van De Leemput, I. A., Scheffer, M., Roppolo, M., Olde Rikkert, M. G. M., & Melis, R. J. F. (2017). Dynamical Resilience Indicators in Time Series of Self-Rated Health Correspond to Frailty Levels in Older Adults. Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 72(7), 991–996. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glx065
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