Pre-frailty factors in community-dwelling 40–75 year olds : opportunities for successful ageing
Date
2020-03-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC (part of Springer Nature)
Abstract
Background: There is little known about pre-frailty attributes or when changes which contribute to frailty might be
detectable and amenable to change. This study explores pre-frailty and frailty in independent community-dwelling
adults aged 40–75 years.
Methods: Participants were recruited through local council networks, a national bank and one university in Adelaide,
Australia. Fried frailty phenotype scores were calculated from measures of unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low physical
activity levels, poor hand grip strength and slow walking speed. Participants were identified as not frail (no phenotypes), prefrail
(one or two phenotypes) or frail (three or more phenotypes). Factor analysis was applied to binary forms of 25 published
frailty measures Differences were tested in mean factor scores between the three Fried frailty phenotypes and ROC curves
estimated predictive capacity of factors.
Results: Of 656 participants (67% female; mean age 59.9 years, SD 10.6) 59.2% were classified as not frail, 39.0% pre-frail and
1.8% frail. There were no gender or age differences. Seven frailty factors were identified, incorporating all 25 frailty measures.
Factors 1 and 7 significantly predicted progression from not-frail to pre-frail (Factor 1 AUC 0.64 (95%CI 0.60–0.68, combined
dynamic trunk stability and lower limb functional strength, balance, foot sensation, hearing, lean muscle mass and low BMI;
Factor 7 AUC 0.55 (95%CI 0.52–0.59) comprising continence and nutrition. Factors 3 and 4 significantly predicted progression
from pre-frail to frail (Factor 3 AUC 0.65 (95% CI 0.59–0.70)), combining living alone, sleep quality, depression and anxiety, and
lung function; Factor 4 AUC 0.60 (95%CI 0.54–0.66) comprising perceived exertion on exercise, and falls history.
Conclusions: This research identified pre-frailty and frailty states in people aged in their 40s and 50s. Pre-frailty in body
systems performance can be detected by a range of mutable measures, and interventions to prevent progression to frailty
could be commenced fromthe fourth decade of life.
Description
CITATION: Gordon, S. J., et al. 2020. Pre-frailty factors in community-dwelling 40–75 year olds : opportunities for successful ageing. BMC Geriatrics, 20:96, doi:10.1186/s12877-020-1490-7.
The original publication is available at https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Frailty, Health -- Age factors, Aging
Citation
Gordon, S. J., et al. 2020. Pre-frailty factors in community-dwelling 40–75 year olds : opportunities for successful ageing. BMC Geriatrics, 20:96, doi:10.1186/s12877-020-1490-7