Home environment and frailty in very old adults

Abstract

Background Since older adults spend much time in their home environment (HE), frailty may occur as a consequence of a maladaptation to the HE. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of frailty in the very old population of North Rhine-Westphalia, and to examine the association between the HE and the frailty levels of these individuals. Methods Data from a cross-sectional representative study were used, including data on 1577 community-dwelling individuals and nursing home residents aged ≥ 80 years. Objective and subjective HE aspects were included. Frailty was defined according to four criteria: exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, weakness, and low physical activity. Adjusted multinomial regression modelling was used to analyze the link between the HE and frailty levels. Results Of the very old individuals, 24.3% were robust, 57.0% were prefrail, and 18.7% were frail. Adjusting for relevant sociodemographic and health characteristics, being not closely attached to the HE was linked with an increased probability of being prefrail and frail. An improvement of the residential area was associated with a decrease in odds of being frail. Living in communities with less than 50,000 and with 100,000–499,999 inhabitants decreased the odds of being frail. Discussion Frailty prevalence is shown to be higher in the very old population than in the younger age groups in Germany. Early identification of frailty and tailored interventions focused on improving objective and subjective attributes of the HE are needed to reduce the risk of frailty.

Factors Related to Life Satisfaction of Older Adults at Home: A Focus on Residential Conditions

“…They feel that a convenient and practical house is sufficient, particularly when the space is safe; they have friendships and memories there. and the neighbors are friendly [ 27 ]. This indicates the psychosocial meaning associated with a residence in older age.…”

Individual characteristics associated with utilization of nursing care in very old population: cross-sectional study

“…Taking the ndings of Kuppler and Wagner (35) into account, lower inpNCU in smaller communities might be attributed to lower inpatient nursing care supply in these areas of NRW. Other perspective provides the study of Zimmermann et al (24) reporting lower likelihood of physical frailty among very old adults who lived in small communities of NRW, which could lead to lower demand for inpNCU.…”

“…The scale ranged from 16 (e.g., cleaners, helpers) to 90 (judges) (23). In additition, community size considering four region types was included; the operationalization was described in detail elsewhere (24).…”

“…Respondents meeting four or three criteria were de ned as frail, those who met two or one criteria were classi ed as pre-frail, and persons meeting non of the criterion were categorized as robust. Details on operationalization of physical frailty within the NRW80 + were published elsewhere (24).…”

Das gute Leben

“…Im Zusammenhang mit gesundheitlichen Bedingungen ist auch das Konstrukt der Gebrechlichkeit („frailty“) zu betrachten [ 23 ]. Knapp 19 % der Befragten waren als prägebrechlich, 57 % als gebrechlich und 24 % als robust einzuordnen.…”