Prevalence of Frailty Syndrome in the Elderly and Associated Factors in Brazil

Anna Ferla Monteiro Silva Passos,Fábia Barbosa De Andrade,Rômulo Lustosa Pimenteira De Melo,Adrianna Ribeiro Lacerda,Maria Do Carmo Eulálio,Anita Liberalesso Neri,Iris Do Céu Clara Costa

doi:10.4236/health.2015.711172

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the prevalence of frailty syndrome and its association with demographic, economic, health, psychological and functional variables in Brazilian population. The study was cross-sectional and composed of 385 elderly aged from 65 years, an average age of 73.92 years. A multivariate Poisson regression was used to check for conditions associated with frailty and to determine the prevalence (α = 0.05). The prevalence of frailty was 8.7% and pre-frailty of 50.4%. The frail and pre-frail older adults showed larger and increasing prevalence ratios for marital status, difficulty performing instrumental activities of daily living, old age, involuntary loss of feces, depression and negative affections. These results can guide the establishment of preventive measures and the development of intervention strategies aimed at minimizing the adverse effects of frailty in elderly people.

Highlights

Numerous demographic and epidemiological studies have demonstrated the increasing elderly populationHow to cite this paper: Passos, A.F.M.S., Costa, I.C.C., Andrade, F.B., Eulálio, M.C., Neri, A.L., Melo, R.L.P. and Lacerda, A.R. (2015) Prevalence of Frailty Syndrome in the Elderly and Associated Factors in Brazil
A systematic review [6] observed in the analysis of 18 studies, a wide variation in prevalence of frailty in general from 6.9% to 21% for the frail state and 33% to 55% for pre-frail state
This study reveals an innovative way that elderly people that have a higher score in negative affections are more prevalent to be a frail elderly

Summary

Introduction

Numerous demographic and epidemiological studies have demonstrated the increasing elderly populationHow to cite this paper: Passos, A.F.M.S., Costa, I.C.C., Andrade, F.B., Eulálio, M.C., Neri, A.L., Melo, R.L.P. and Lacerda, A.R. (2015) Prevalence of Frailty Syndrome in the Elderly and Associated Factors in Brazil. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2025, Brazil will be the sixth country in number of elderly in the world, reaching about 32 million seniors As a consequence, this will increase the impact on the social and economic sphere of the country, which promotes the interest of the scientific community, especially for those considered more fragile and vulnerable [2]. A substantial portion of the elderly population is a carrier of health conditions that make them vulnerable to a large number of adverse events These individuals are about to pass the barrier of cognitive and functional preservation, developing various frameworks of dependence, being classified as carriers of frailty syndrome—clinical syndrome identified by unintentional weight loss, decreased level of physical activity, reduced palm grip strength, sensation of fatigue and reduced gait velocity. Those characterized as fragile, suffering from three of these symptoms such as pre-frail of one or two non-frail those without symptoms [4]

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