Frailty in the Context of Older People Living With HIV

Abstract

Despite advances in knowledge about older people living with HIV infection (PLWH), frailty remains a challenge to HIV care. Numerous studies have documented its impact; however, the concept remains unclear. Concept exploration of frailty in the context of older PLWH was conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concept based on the Walker and Avant method. After the literature review, a concept analysis and a definition of frailty among older PLWH emerged. Implications for further practice, education, public policy, and research are presented to use the concept consistently, develop interventions to prevent frailty, and improve health outcomes.

Factors Related to Multidimensional Frailty Among Hispanic People Living With HIV Aged 50 Years and Above: A Cross-sectional Study

“…issues or a decrease in the ability to cope with and overcome these challenges throughout life (Brothers & Rockwood, 2019;Iriarte et al, 2021a). Even though frailty is an aging-related syndrome, this study, unlike other studies, did not demonstrate a significant relationship between multidimensional frailty and age or years living with HIV (Althoff et al, 2014;Desquilbet et al, 2007;Piggott et al, 2013).…”

“…Clinical priorities should focus on multidimensional frailty early diagnosis and effective management. Additionally, nurses and health care providers working with older PLWH are well-poised to screen for multidimensional frailty and implement clinical interventions to prevent, delay, or decrease adverse health outcomes (Iriarte et al, 2021a).…”

“…Based on our literature review, we hypothesized that (1) sociodemographic factors associated with multidimensional frailty in the study group include advanced age, lower income, lower educational level, female gender, living without a partner, length of time living with HIV, and a higher comorbidity burden (Falutz, 2020;Iriarte et al, 2021a;Iriarte et al, 2022;Piggott et al, 2016) and (2) psychosocial factors associated with multidimensional frailty include a higher level of HIVrelated stigma, depressive symptoms, greater loneliness, lower perceived social support, and lower acculturation (Falutz, 2020;Iriarte et al, 2021aIriarte et al, , 2021bIriarte et al, , 2022Piggott et al, 2016). This study should contribute to nursing knowledge and inform evidence-based practice to address multidimensional frailty among older Hispanic PLWH by providing opportunities for nurses to understand frailty with a multidimensional approach to health promotion and disease prevention among this population.…”

“…For this study, the model was adapted for older Hispanic PLWH to incorporate factors relevant to this population. In addition, multidimensional frailty is influenced by sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, education, income, gender, living with a partner, years living with HIV, and comorbidities) and psychosocial factors (HIV-related stigma, depressive symptoms, lack of social support, loneliness, and acculturation; Iriarte et al, 2021a; Iriarte et al, 2022).…”

Frailty and frailty screening: A qualitative study to elicit perspectives of people living with HIV and their healthcare professionals

“…However, they were unclear about whether mental fragility was a cause, component or consequence of frailty. This has clinical implications for frailty assessment and diagnosis in this group [28]. The omission of psychosocial domains in frailty assessment tools has been criticized [29].…”