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
. 2022 May 14;22(1):424.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-03101-8.

Prevalence and determinants of physical frailty among people living in residential aged care facilities: a large-scale retrospective audit

Rachel Milte  1 , Jasmine Petersen  1 , Jo Boylan  2 , Tim Henwood  2 , Sarah Hunter  1 , Belinda Lange  1 , Michael Lawless  1 , Stacey Torode  2 , Lucy K Lewis  3
Affiliations

Prevalence and determinants of physical frailty among people living in residential aged care facilities: a large-scale retrospective audit

Rachel Milte et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Physical frailty is associated with increased risk of falls, hospitalisation and mortality. There is a dearth of information on physical frailty of older adults living in residential aged care. This study aimed to describe physical frailty in aged care residents and investigate possible determinants of frailty.

Method: A retrospective audit of resident records was undertaken across 14 residential aged care facilities. Data were extracted on all consenting residents who had completed measures relating to frailty (Short Physical Performance Battery SPPB; grip strength). All data of the first record of measures were extracted, resident characteristics, and the time from admission to assessment. Summary statistics were completed. Differences between sub-groups were explored (Mann-Whitney U, Kruskall-Wallis Ranked tests). Associations between variables were explored with Chi-squared and Pearson correlations. Determinants of physical frailty were determined with linear regression analyses. Alpha (2-sided) was 0.05.

Results: Data were extracted for 1241 residents (67% female), with a mean age of 86.0 (7.6) years. Males had a significantly lower time from admission to assessment of frailty (p ≤ 0.001). The average SPPB score was 4.1 (3.3), 75% of residents were frail and 19% pre-frail. Bivariate analyses indicated no significant relationships between grip strength and SPPB score, but significant differences for grip strength, where males were significantly stronger (males 20.2 ± 8.3 kg; females 12.4 ± 5.4 kg; p ≤ 0.001). There was a significant positive relationship between SPPB total score and grip strength, gender (p ≤ 0.001), and marital status (p = 0.049) and a negative relationship between time from admission to assessment and SPPB total score (p ≤ 0.001). There were significant negative relationships between gender (p ≤ 0.001) and age (p ≤ 0.001), and time from admission to assessment (p ≤ 0.001) with grip strength.

Conclusion: Older adults living in residential aged care have a high level of physical frailty which may lead to increased risk of adverse outcomes. Time in the residential aged care setting and age appear to predict physical frailty. There is a need for a consistent battery of measures to continually monitor frailty and programs to address the high levels of frailty in residential aged care.

Keywords: aged care; frailty; older adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division . World population ageing 2019: Highlights. New York: UN; 2019.
    1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Population Ageing 2019: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/430). 2019. chromeextension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.un.org/en....
    1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare . Aged care. Canberra: AIHW; 2019.
    1. Kojima G. Prevalence of frailty in nursing homes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2015;16(11):940–945. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2015.06.025. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Walston J, Hadley EC, Ferrucci L, Guralnik JM, Newman AB, Studenski SA, et al. Research agenda for frailty in older adults: toward a better understanding of physiology and etiology: summary from the American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging Research Conference on Frailty in Older Adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(6):991–1001. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2006.00745.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources