PurposeThe purpose of the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS) is to initiate a nationwide, population-based prospective cohort study of older adults living in the community to assess their frailty status and explore transitions between frailty states over time in Korea.ParticipantsThe KFACS is a multicentre longitudinal study with the baseline survey conducted from May 2016 to November 2017. Each centre recruited participants using quota sampling stratified by age and sex. The number of participants recruited through 2 years of baseline study from 10 centres was 3014, with each site accounting for approximately 300 participants. The inclusion criteria were: having an age of 70–84 years, currently living in the community, having no plans to move out in the next 2 years, having no problems with communication and no prior dementia diagnosis.Findings to dateTo define physical frailty, the KFACS used a modified version of the Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP) consisting of five components of frailty: unintended weight loss, weakness, self-reported exhaustion, slowness and low physical activity. In the baseline study of 2016–2017, 2907 of 3014 individuals fulfilled all five components of FFP. The results indicated that 7.8% of the participants (n=228) were frail, 47.0% (n=1366) were prefrail and 45.2% (n=1313) were robust. The prevalence of frailty increased with age in both sexes; in the group aged 70–74 years, 1.8% of men and 3.7% of women were frail, whereas in the 80–84 years age group, 14.9% of men and 16.7% of women were frail. Women tended to exhibit a higher prevalence of frailty than men in all age groups.Future plansThe KFACS plans to identify outcomes and risk factors associated with frailty by conducting a 10-year cohort study, with a follow-up every 2 years, using 3014 baseline participants.

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BackgroundThe trend of aging society is occurring globally, and with it, one of the health problems that is emerging is frailty. Efforts are being made to account for the increasing prevalence of frailty, and various modifiable factors are being considered in regards to frailty. Because social contact has shown beneficial effects in terms of health in previous studies, it is increasingly being considered in relation to frailty. The purpose of this study was to assess the association of different types of social contact with frailty status.MethodsA total of 1,200 Korean elders aged 70–84 years old were included in the study. Using Fried's Cardiovascular Health Study index to categorize the frailty status, the relationship between frailty status and frequency of contact (i.e., with family members, friends, or neighbors) was analyzed using multinomial logistic regression accounting for confounders.ResultsAdjusting for all covariates, frequency of contact with friends was the most statistically significant. Less frequent contact was associated with a significantly higher odds of pre-frailty: monthly (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27–3.20), and rarely (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.17–2.99), with daily contact group as reference. Also, those contacting friends monthly (OR, 5.04; 95% CI, 2.29–11.08) or rarely (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.58–6.61) were more likely to be frail compared to the daily group.ConclusionFrequency of social contact, especially with friends, is strongly associated with frailty.

Poor nutritional status is strongly associated with frailty in older adults. More research to understand the interdependency between nutritional status and frailty may lead to better management of the two geriatric conditions.