Predictive value of gait and balance on frailty in community-dwelling older adults in Shanghai, China / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo explore the predictive value of gait and balance on the frailty in community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older in Shanghai. MethodsA total of 414 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years or older were recruited from Shanghai, from December, 2022 to April, 2023. They were investigated with Fried's Frailty Phenotype Scale, Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT), one leg standing test (OLST) and self-designed questionnaire. The factors related to frailty were analyzed using multivariate Logistic regression. ResultsThe prevalence of pre-frailty and frailty were 62.8% and 10.9%, respectively. Living in rural residence, older age, low income, smoking, sedentary lifestyle and no regular exercise were the risk factors for frailty among community-dwelling older adults. Time of TUGT increased, and time of closed eyes OLST descreased respectively in the frail older adults (P < 0.05). The area under curve was 0.846 (95% CI 0.808 to 0.884, P < 0.001) as prediction for frailty using the combination of TUGT and closed eye OLST, with a sensitivity of 0.726 and a specificity of 0.817 at the optimal threshold. ConclusionGait and balance may be a valuable predictor of frailty in community-dwelling older adults in Shanghai.