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. 2009 Jan-Mar;35(1):61-82.
doi: 10.1080/03610730802545051.

Change in frailty and risk of death in older persons

A S Buchman  1 , R S Wilson, J L Bienias, D A Bennett
Affiliations

Change in frailty and risk of death in older persons

A S Buchman et al. Exp Aging Res. 2009 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

The authors developed and validated a continuous composite measure of frailty and examined its rate of change in 832 older persons with annual evaluations for up to 8 years. In generalized estimating equation models adjusted for age, sex, and education, there was a significant increase in frailty during follow-up. In a proportional hazards model controlling for age, sex, education, and baseline frailty, each 1-unit increase in annual change in frailty was associated with an almost 5 times the risk of mortality. Using a continuous measure, the authors document that frailty is progressive in some older persons and that its rate of progression is associated with mortality.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Composite Frailty and Dichotomous Frail Components
Composite frailty was highly associated the number of frail components (rho = 0.72, p<0.001).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Composite Frailty and Age
This figure shows the relationship between baseline composite frailty (vertical axis) and age (horizontal axis) for all participants.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Cross Sectional Versus Longitudinal Effects Of Age And Composite Frailty
This figure shows the predicted cross sectional effect (dotted line) and longitudinal effect (solid line) of age (x axis) on composite frailty (y axis).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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