Characterization by Gender of Frailty Syndrome in Elderly People according to Frail Trait Scale and Fried Frailty Phenotype

Abstract

Background: Frailty has emerged as one of the main geriatric syndromes to be prevented in order to improve quality of health and life in the elderly. In this sense, the characterization of this syndrome through reliable and feasible diagnostic tools for clinical use, such as the Frail Trait Scale 5 (FTS-5) and Frail Trait Scale 3 (FTS-3), represents the basis for this objective. Objectives: To characterize the frailty syndrome in a population of older adults using FTS-5, FTS-3, and Fried phenotype (FP) as frailty diagnostic tools. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: 300 adults ≥65 years recruited from different Family Health Centers and community groups of older people in Talca, Chile. Methods: The diagnosis of frailty was made according to FP, FTS-5, and FTS-3 tools. Data about sociodemographic characteristics and anthropometric measurements were collected by a clinical interview by a previously trained health professional. Results: A total prevalence of frailty according to the FP of 19.7% was observed; while in the group of women and men it was 21.4% and 15.0%, respectively. Concerning the FTS-5 tool, the total prevalence of frailty was 18%, while in the group of women and men was 18.0% and 17.5%, respectively. The FTS-3 tool shows a total prevalence of frailty of 23.3%, while in the group of women and men a prevalence of 22.7% and 25.0%, respectively. A significant difference is observed with respect to the presence of the Fried criteria of “weakness” (women: 21.4%, men: 38.8%) and “weight loss” (women: 16.8%, men: 7.5%; p < 0.05). A significant difference is observed concerning the average score of “Handgrip” criteria, “walking time”, and “Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly” (PASE) between the group of women and men. Frailty, diagnosed by FTS-3, is significantly associated with the risk factors of overweight (body mass index ≥ 25) (OR: 10.225, 95% CI: 1.297–80.617) and advanced age (age ≥ 75 years) (OR: 1.839, 95% CI: 1.040–3.250). Conclusion: The prevalence of frailty observed with the FTS-5 (18%) and FTS-3 (23.3%) tools are similar to the prevalence observed through the FP (19.7%) and those reported in other observational studies. Considering the similar prevalence of frailty diagnosed with the three tools, FTS-3 should be a valuable tool for the screening of frailty in the community.

Sex Differences in Frailty Factors and Their Capacity to Identify Frailty in Older Adults Living in Long-Term Nursing Homes

“…Despite recognition of differences between sexes, few studies have stratified frailty data by sex. Some authors have published data stratified by sex of community-dwelling older adults [42,43] while others have included both community-dwelling and institutionalized individuals [44][45][46][47][48][49]. To our knowledge, only two published studies have stratified frailty prevalence data by sex exclusively from a population of older people living in LTNHs [50,51].…”

Fear of Falling and its Relationship With Frailty in Older Adults

“…In our study, Cronbach's α coefficient for the reliability of Persian FES-I was obtained 0.954. The frailty scale is one of the most common qualitative and clinical indicators of frailty in the world, which was designed by Linda Fried [11][12][13]. It measures 5 criteria of exhaustion, weakness, slowness, low physical activity, and weight loss [7,14].…”

Predictive value of frailty assessment tools in patients undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer: An observational cohort study

“…The total score can range from 0-5, with a score of 0 indicating robust, 1-2 indicating pre-frailty, and ≥ 3 indicating frailty[ 29 ]. Patients with Fried phenotype scores ≥ 3 were included in the frailty group and those with Fried phenotype scores of 0-2 were included in the non-frailty group[ 30 ].…”