Prospective cohort study of frailty syndrome and its associated risk for adverse outcomes in elderly Chinese residents / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effects of frailty syndrome on activities of daily living and its associated risk for adverse outcomes among elderly residents in China.Methods:Using open data from "China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey", the 2011 baseline survey was conducted on general information, health risk factors, chronic disease, data obtained from various ability assessments and Fried frailty criteria assessments for community elderly aged 60 years and over.The follow-up data were used to analyze the adverse outcomes of frailty syndrome using a covariation-adjusted Logistic regression model.Results:Among the 5 630 people in the baseline population, 34.9%(1 963/5 630 cases)were non-frailty, 57.4%(3 236 cases)were pre-frailty, and 7.7%(431 cases)were frailty.The frailty group had higher rates of falls, hip fractures, hospitalizations, and death than the pre-frail and non-frail groups at the 3rd, 5th, and 8th years of follow-up.At follow up to 2015, the covariate-adjusted analysis of the study population showed that as compared with the non-frail group, the frail group had increased risks of falling( OR=1.738, 95% CI: 1.292-2.338, P<0.001), increased risks of hip fracture( OR=2.672, 95% CI: 1.365-5.233, P=0.004), increased risks of hospitalization( OR=1.670, 95% CI: 1.224-2.277, P=0.001), increased risk of death( OR=1.599, 95% CI: 1.256-2.035, P<0.001), increased risks of declined upper limb activity( OR=2.769, 95% CI: 2.101-3.650, P<0.001), of declined instrumental activity of daily living( OR=2.567, 95% CI: 1.941-3.395, P<0.001), and of declined basic activities of daily living( OR=2.790, 95% CI: 2.110-3.689, P<0.001). Conclusions:Frailty syndrome increases the risk of decreased ability to live, falls, hip fractures, hospitalization and death in older adults.Frailty screening is an effective tool for predicting the risk of adverse outcomes in elderly community populations.