Frailty knowledge level and its influencing factors among older adults in China

Abstract

Background Raising older adults’ frailty knowledge level and encouraging them to actively engage in the prevention and treatment of frailty is important to promote healthy aging. This study aimed to investigate frailty knowledge level and its influencing factors among community-dwelling older adults in China. Methods This cross-sectional study included a total of 734 community-dwelling older adults in China. A self-designed questionnaire was used to assess their frailty knowledge level. Logistic regression and decision tree analysis were used to examine the association between the following factors and frailty knowledge level: gender, age, residential area, co-residence, marital status, education level, monthly income, pension insurance, smoking status, drinking status, exercise status, body mass index, type of chronic disease, number of oral medications, nutritional status, cognitive status, depression, social activity, social isolation, and frailty. Results Most of the participants (mean age 72.01, standard deviation 9.45) were female (51.1%) and living with a spouse (76.4%). They knew little about frailty and had misunderstandings about frailty. Nearly half of them made a wrong judgment on their frailty status (42.50%). Most participants expected to obtain frailty knowledge in the community (33.92%). Those who were female, lived in rural areas, lived alone, had not attended school, had a monthly income < 3,000RMB, were at risk for malnutrition, were depressed, and were socially isolated were more likely to lack knowledge on frailty. In contrast, those with advanced age and were at pre-frailty or frailty stage were significantly more knowledgeable about frailty. The group that was least knowledgeable about frailty was those who had never attended school or primary school and had loose friend ties (1.3%). Conclusion Frailty knowledge level among older adults in China is low, especially among those at high risk for frailty. Therefore, it is crucial to develop tailored measures to raise frailty knowledge level among older adults in China.