Differential Associations of Frailty with the Incidence of Mild and Severe Disabilities in Older Adults: A 3-Year Cohort Study

Abstract

BackgroundFrailty is associated with the incidence of disability in older people, but few studies investigated differences in the association of frailty with mild and severe disability by Japanese long-term care insurance certification. This study investigated the association of frailty with the incidence of mild and severe disability separately. MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study for 3 years. The participants were community-dwelling people aged ≥ 65 in Okayama City. We assessed frailty status using the Kihon Checklist and defined outcomes as mild and severe disability in long-term care insurance certifications. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association of frailty with the incidence of mild and severe disability. ResultsA total of 36043 participants were analyzed. For mild disability, the odds ratios (ORs) comparing frail to robust and prefrail to robust were 3.85 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.36-4.42) and 1.82 (95% CI 1.58-2.10). Similarly, the corresponding ORs for severe disability were 4.35 (95% CI 3.55-5.34) and 1.78 (95% CI 1.43-2.21). In the age-stratified analysis, in mild disability, the pre-old group (aged 65-74) with frail showed a higher association than the old group (aged ≥ 75) with frail. In severe disability, the old group with frail showed a higher association than the pre-old group with frail. Conclusion 4The results showed that both prefrail and frail were associated with the incidence of mild and severe disability, and there were different patterns of association between the pre-old/old age groups.

Escalation on Kihon Checklist Scores Preceding the Certification of Long-Term Care Need in the Older Population in Japan. A 9-Year Retrospective Study

“… 10 Additionally, the associations of KCL scores with LTC need certification have been reported. 11 Moreover, KCL scores have exhibited significant correlations with heightened cognitive dysfunction, 12 elevated levels of depression, 13 and augmented mortality. 14 Even long-term follow-up studies have validated the predictive ability of KCL scores for functional disability.…”