TY - JOUR
T1 - Frailty Is a Geriatric Syndrome Characterized by Multiple Impairments
T2 - A Comprehensive Approach Is Needed
AU - Chen, Liang-Kung
AU - Hwang, A. C.
AU - Liu, L. K.
AU - Lee, Wei-Ju
AU - Peng, Li-Ning
PY - 2016/1
Y1 - 2016/1
N2 - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of frailty and the associated multimorbidity and functional impairments among community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly people in Taiwan.DESIGN: a cross-sectional study.SETTING: communities in I-Lan County of Taiwan.PARTICIPANTS: 1839 community-dwelling people aged 50 years and older.None.MEASUREMENTS: Frailty defined by Fried's criteria, Charlson's comorbidity index (CCI), Functional Autonomy Measurement System (SMAF), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Mini-Nutrition Assessment (MNA), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Short Form-12 quality of life questionnaire.RESULTS: Overall, 1839 subjects (mean age: 63.9±9.3 years, 47.5% males) participated in this study and men were more likely to have higher educational level, more smoking and alcohol drinking habit. The prevalence of frailty was 6.8% in this study, while pre-frailty was 40.5% and 53.7% of all participants were robust. Compared to subjects with different frailty status, age, education year, alcohol drinking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, CCI, walking speed, handgrip strength, score of SMAF, CES-D, MNA, MMSE, quality of life were significantly different between groups (P all< 0.05). Older age, poorer physical function, poorer cognitive function, poorer nutritional status, more depressive symptoms, higher CCI and poorer quality of life were all independently associated with frailty.CONCLUSIONS: Frailty was not simply a geriatric syndrome, but the combination of multiple geriatric syndromes. Further study is needed to evaluate the clinical benefits of intervention programs for community-dwelling middle-aged and older people to reverse frailty and its associated functional impairments.
AB - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of frailty and the associated multimorbidity and functional impairments among community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly people in Taiwan.DESIGN: a cross-sectional study.SETTING: communities in I-Lan County of Taiwan.PARTICIPANTS: 1839 community-dwelling people aged 50 years and older.None.MEASUREMENTS: Frailty defined by Fried's criteria, Charlson's comorbidity index (CCI), Functional Autonomy Measurement System (SMAF), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Mini-Nutrition Assessment (MNA), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Short Form-12 quality of life questionnaire.RESULTS: Overall, 1839 subjects (mean age: 63.9±9.3 years, 47.5% males) participated in this study and men were more likely to have higher educational level, more smoking and alcohol drinking habit. The prevalence of frailty was 6.8% in this study, while pre-frailty was 40.5% and 53.7% of all participants were robust. Compared to subjects with different frailty status, age, education year, alcohol drinking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, CCI, walking speed, handgrip strength, score of SMAF, CES-D, MNA, MMSE, quality of life were significantly different between groups (P all< 0.05). Older age, poorer physical function, poorer cognitive function, poorer nutritional status, more depressive symptoms, higher CCI and poorer quality of life were all independently associated with frailty.CONCLUSIONS: Frailty was not simply a geriatric syndrome, but the combination of multiple geriatric syndromes. Further study is needed to evaluate the clinical benefits of intervention programs for community-dwelling middle-aged and older people to reverse frailty and its associated functional impairments.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021859180&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.14283/jfa.2016.109
DO - 10.14283/jfa.2016.109
M3 - Article
C2 - 27883167
AN - SCOPUS:85021859180
SN - 2260-1341
VL - 5
SP - 208
EP - 213
JO - The Journal of frailty & aging
JF - The Journal of frailty & aging
IS - 4
ER -