Abstract
ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of frailty and to evaluate the associated factors in the non-institutionalized Brazilian population aged 50 years or older.METHODS The analyses were conducted in 8,556 participants of the baseline survey of the Longitudinal Study of Health of the Brazilian Elderly (ELSI-Brazil) conducted in 2015 and 2016. Frailty was defined based on five characteristics: weight loss, weakness, slowness, exhaustion and low level of physical activity. Participants with three or more characteristics were classified as frail. A Poisson regression model was used to examine the association between frailty and sociodemographic and health factors.RESULTS The prevalence of frailty was 9.0% (95%CI 8.0–10.1) among participants aged 50 years or over. Among the older adults aged 60 or over, the prevalence was 13.5% (95%CI 11.9–15.3) and 16.2% (95%CI 14.3–18.3) among those 65 aged years or over. Factors associated with higher prevalence of frailty were low schooling, residence without a partner, health conditions (poor self-rated health and two or more chronic diseases) and limitation to perform basic activities of daily living.CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of frailty among Brazilians aged 65 years or older is similar to their European counterparts. Poor health conditions, functional limitation and low schooling emerge as the factors most strongly associated with the frailty in this population.
Highlights
Frailty is characterized as an energy decline syndrome resulting from changes that occur due to aging
Factors associated with higher prevalence of frailty were low schooling, residence without a partner, health conditions and limitation to perform basic activities of daily living
Functional limitation and low schooling emerge as the factors most strongly associated with the frailty in this population
Summary
Frailty is characterized as an energy decline syndrome resulting from changes that occur due to aging These changes predispose the elderly to a marked reduction in muscle mass and to a chronic inflammatory state, which, when associated with diseases, immobility or other extrinsic factors, results in a decrease in the energy reserve and an increase in physical vulnerability[1]. Different studies show that this syndrome is associated with advanced age[1,2,3,4] and worse socioeconomic conditions, such as insufficient income and low educational levels[1,5,6].frailty is related to the presence of chronic diseases and disability, either by predisposing to them or resulting from them[1]. In Brazil, the aging process occurs under unfavorable economic, social and health conditions[7]. Due to the rapid aging of the population and the increase in the costs related to the health of the elderly, there has been an increase in scientific interest in the study of frailty[4,9]
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