Multi‐faceted frail older adults and chronic diseases

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe older adults who are in the middle of health and disability are called frail older adults because they are vulnerable to disability. Although the relationship between chronic diseases and frailty has been reported through a number of previous studies, the latest studies examining the prevalence of frailty based on multifaceted factors are limited.MethodIn this study, data from the 5th Survey of Living Conditions of Older adults study conducted in 2020 was selected. Data of the older adults over 65 (N = 10,097) were used for the analyses. Using the Comprehensive Korean Frailty Instrument (CKFI), participants were classified into robust, pre‐frail, and frail groups. Binominal logistic regression was used. Analysis was performed using SPSS 25. Three models were set. In Model 1, cutoff was set to 7 points to examine the possibility of chronic diseases in the frail group compared to the robust and pre‐frail groups. In Model 2, cutoff was set to 5 to examine the possibility of chronic diseases in the pre‐frail and frail groups compared to the robust group. In Model 3, except for the frail group, the possibility that the pre‐frail group has chronic diseases compared to the robust group was examined.ResultThe prevalence of robust, pre‐frail and frail group was found to be 26.59%, 27.65%, 45.76% respectively (Table 1). For all models, the probability according to the Likelihood Ratio statistic value was less than 0.01. The p‐value was less than 0.01.According to z‐statistics of Model 1, it was confirmed that Rheumatoid Arthritis/Osteoarthritis (16.17), hypertension (13.54), diabetes (13.14), lumbago (11.75), stroke (11.96) and osteoporosis (OST) (10.92) affect frailty (Table 2). The z‐statistics of Model 2 confirmed that RHE (12.45), DIA (10.82), high blood pressure (10.62), and LUM (10.15) had the effect of pre‐frail and frail groups (Table 3). In Model 3, there were no results with z‐statistics more than 10. Though the model was significant, the explanatory power was low (Table 4).ConclusionWe found that there was a significant correlation between multifaceted frailty and chronic diseases. In the future, it is necessary to examine the causal relationship between multifaceted frailty and chronic diseases through longitudinal studies.