How common is frailty in older Australians?

Abstract

The apparent prevalence of frailty varied when different measures were used. It is important for clinicians and researchers to be aware that different frailty measures may identify different groups of older people as frail.

Frailty prevalence in Australia: Findings from four pooled Australian cohort studies

“…The prevalence of frailty in women was approximately double that seen in men across all age groups, and as expected, the prevalence of frailty increased significantly with increasing age. The prevalence of frailty in this sample is substantially higher than has been reported previously in Australian studies . Frailty was significantly higher in our study for women who were divorced, widowed or never married compared to their married or de facto counterparts.…”

Frailty prevalence and factors associated with the Frailty Phenotype and Frailty Index: Findings from the North West Adelaide Health Study

“…Frailty prevalence (FP: 18%, FI: 48%) was substantially higher than in a previous South Australian study which measured frailty prevalence in men and women using both measures (FP: 9%, FI: 18%, mean age 78.2 (6.7) years) . In that study, exclusively self‐report FI variables and a higher cut‐point of 0.25 were used, which is likely to have contributed in part to the lower prevalence .…”

“…Our FI used a combination of self‐report and test‐based health measures, and had a cut‐point of 0.21, as combining both forms of measurement has been identified as best predicting adverse health outcomes . Furthermore, when comparing our findings, using data from 2004 to 2006, with the findings by Widagdo et al who used data from 1992, there may be a cohort effect. The comparatively lower socioeconomic status (SES) of the NWAHS region might also have contributed to a higher frailty prevalence .…”

“…Frailty has been investigated in four Australian cohort studies . One South Australian study using 1992 data compared frailty using both the FP and FI, where frailty prevalence was reported at 9% (FP) and 18% (FI) (mean age 78.2 (6.7)) respectively .…”

“…Frailty has been investigated in four Australian cohort studies . One South Australian study using 1992 data compared frailty using both the FP and FI, where frailty prevalence was reported at 9% (FP) and 18% (FI) (mean age 78.2 (6.7)) respectively . Two other male studies reported a prevalence of 9% (FP; New South Wales; mean age 76.9 (5.5)) and 16% (FRAIL Scale; Western Australia, mean age 76.9 (3.8)) .…”