Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;58(11):2149-53.
doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03146.x.

Frailty, mortality, and health-related quality of life in older Mexican Americans

Meredith C Masel  1 , Glenn V Ostir, Kenneth J Ottenbacher
Affiliations

Frailty, mortality, and health-related quality of life in older Mexican Americans

Meredith C Masel et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the effect of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) on the relationship between frailty status and survival in older Mexican-American adults.

Design: Prospective analysis of participants in the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly.

Setting: Urban and rural areas of five southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

Participants: One thousand eight Mexican-American adults aged 74 to 101 interviewed between 2005 and 2006.

Measurements: Trained interviewers collected information on patient demographics, health conditions, frailty status, HRQOL, and survival.

Results: Frailty was associated with a greater odds of death (odds ratio = 2.72, 95% confidence interval = 1.5-5.1) over a period of 2 to 3 years. After adjusting for the physical component of HRQOL, being frail (as opposed to prefrail or nonfrail) was no longer significantly associated with mortality. The mental health component of HRQOL did not affect the relationship between frailty and mortality.

Conclusion: Older Mexican Americans identified as frail experienced poorer survival in this sample than their prefrail or nonfrail counterparts. Adjusting for the physical component of HRQOL attenuated poorer survival in persons categorized as frail.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Dr. Ottenbacher is the Principal Investigator of the frailty substudy of the Hispanic EPESE.

Dr. Ostir has no conflict to report

Dr. Masel has no conflict to report.

References

    1. Ottenbacher KJ, Graham JE, Al Snih S, et al. Mexican Americans and frailty: Findings from the Hispanic established populations epidemiologic studies of the elderly. Am J of Public Health. 2009;99:673–679. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Graham JE, Snih SA, Berges IM, Ray LA, Markides KS, Ottenbacher KJ. Frailty and 10-year mortality in community-living Mexican American older adults. Gerontol. 2009;55:644–651. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Masel M, Graham J, Reistetter T, Markides K, Ottenbacher K. Frailty and health related quality of life in older Mexican Americans. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2009;7:70. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health related quality of life. 2009. [(Accessed 4/29/2010)]. http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/
    1. Alonso J, Ferrer M, Gandek B, et al. Health-related quality of life associated with chronic conditions in eight countries: Results from the international quality of life assessment (IQOLA) project. Qual Life Res. 2004;13:283–298. - PubMed

Publication types