Association of the FRAIL Scale with Geriatric Syndromes and Health-Related Outcomes in Korean Older Adults

Abstract

BackgroundNeeds exist for appropriate tools for frailty screening in community-dwelling older people, with growing older population. We aimed to investigate the association of geriatric conditions and healthrelated outcomes with the 5-item FRAIL scale in a Korean rural community setting. MethodsComprehensive geriatric assessments including FRAIL scale were performed in 1,292 communitydwelling people (mean age: 74.6 years) in the Aging Study of Pyeongchang Rural Area (ASPRA). These population was prospectively followed up to 3 years to analyze outcomes of death, institutionalization, disability, and quality of life. We investigated the association between frailty status by the FRAIL scale and outcomes. ResultsAccording to the FRAIL scale, 524 (36.5 %) were prefrail and 297 (23.0 %) were frail. In an adjusted model, degree of frailty status was significantly associated with concurrent geriatric syndromes, and 3-year incidences of mortality, institutionalization, and disability.Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant difference in 3-year survival based on the frailty status (92.6% for robust; 85.7% for prefrail; 74.2% for frail; Log-rank p < 0.001). ConclusionThe 5-item FRAIL scale can screen accompanying geriatric syndromes and is associated with the 3year health-related outcomes in community-dwelling Korean older adults. From the perspective of public health, this simple screening tool for frailty assessment might be applicable to older population in Korea.

Frailty and risks of all-cause and cause-specific death in community-dwelling adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In addition to six studies [38][39][40][41][42][43] that only enrolled male or female individuals, the other studies all consisted of both sexes. Almost all the identified studies provided corresponding HRs for the risk of death, with potential adjustment factors including age and sex, but three studies [25,44,45] reported the OR.…”

Cross sectional association between cognitive frailty and disability among community-dwelling older adults: Focus on the role of social factors

“…We used the FRAIL and MMSE-K scales to assess level of frailty and cognitive function. Although the instruments for measuring frailty and cognitive function were consistent with previous research on older populations ( 2 , 26 , 36 , 51 , 52 ), we cannot rule out the possibility that the prevalence of cognitive frailty could vary if different measures are used. Moreover, we did not consider a broad spectrum of social activities or specific cognitive domains.…”

The Aging Study of Pyeongchang Rural Area (ASPRA): Findings and Perspectives for Human Aging, Frailty, and Disability

“…The simple FRAIL questionnaire was not inferior to the Kihon + 3 index 23 ) and was associated with geriatric syndromes and 3-year health-related outcomes, such as disability, institutionalization, and mortality. 24 ) The results of our analysis showed that the FRAIL scale, a phenotype-based questionnaire, behaved similarly in general to a deficit accumulation model-based Kihon + 3 index. Based on these findings, subsequent studies to identify a core aging phenotype underlying the broad definitions of frailty were conceptualized.…”