Abstract: Objective  To explore the potential categories and influencing factors of social frailty in elderly maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients.  Methods  A total of 248 elderly patients undergoing MHD from two tertiary hospitals in Wuhan were enrolled in this study. General information questionnaire, Social Vulnerability Index, Geriatric Depression Scale 5, Personal Mastery Scale, and Social Network Scale were used for the investigation. Latent profile analysis was used to test the heterogeneity. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the influencing factors for potential types of social frailty.  Results  The social frailty of elderly MHD patients could be categorized as mild social frailty-comprehensive type (62.10%), moderate social frailty-information acquisition type (11.29%), and severe social frailty type (26.61%). Regression analysis showed that marriage (OR=5.074, 95% CI: 1.082～23.797, P=0.039), depression (OR=0.546, 95% CI: 0.356～0.941, P=0.028), education of junior high school or below (OR=0.042,  95% CI: 0.002～0.862, P=0.040), and sense of personal mastery (OR=1.522, 95% CI: 1.183～1.958, P=0.001), dialysis duration ＜1 year (OR=25.286, 95% CI: 1.347～43.652, P=0.022) and social network (OR=1.247, 95% CI: 1.071～S1.451, P=0.004) were the influencing factors for potential categories of social frailty in elderly MHD patients.  Conclusion   Significant heterogeneity exists in social frailty among elderly MHD patients. Medical staff should implement target interventions tailored to distinct frailty categories and clinical characteristics.

Key words: Elderly, Maintenance hemodialysis, Latent profile analysis, Social frailty, Influence factor