Frailty among Community Dwelling Older Adults: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Abstract

Abstract Background: Frailty is an important and a highly prevalent health problem in older adults that has a negative impact on health related outcomes. The importance of studying frailty comes from the fact that its merely associated with aging but not an inevitable process. Aim: To assess prevalence of frailty and its associated factors among community-dwelling older adults. Method: A community based cross sectional study was used withcluster sampling technique targeted 300 older adults in six urban and rural regions affiliated to Dakahlia governorate. Data was collected using, Mini-mental State Examination, demographic and health-related data structured interview questionnaire, Katz and Akpom scale, Lawton and Brody scale, the Mini Nutritional Asses sment questionnaire and Frailty was measured using survey of health, and aging, and retirement in Europe of the frailty indicator. Results: Prevalence of frailty was 64.7% among the studied older adults, and only 5.3% were non frail. Age, current work, comorbidity, polypharmavy, IADL, and malnutrition were significant independent predictors for frailty (β 0.136, -0.148, 0.117, 0.118, -0.209, and 0.401 respectively), p < 0.05 for all, and responsible for 72.4% of frailty (R2 = .724). Conclusion: It can be concluded that frailty was highly prevalent in community-dwellers in Egypt urban and rural regions. Risk factors of frailty include female gender, widohood, illiteracy, living arrangements, previous hospitalization, drug compliance, periodic checkup, engagement into social practices, and smoking. Moreover Older adults' age, work status, income, comorbidities, polypharmacy, functional status, and nutritional status were found as the main factors associated with frailty. Recommendations: Assessment of associated risk factors of frailty in older adults should be done through community-based healthcare programs for early diagnosis and management.