J Korean Geriatr Soc.
2013 Jun;17(2):71-78. 10.4235/jkgs.2013.17.2.71.
Clinical Factors Related to Frailty Estimated by the Korean Frailty Index
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Family Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea. hweesoo@dongguk.ac.kr
- 2Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
- KMID: 2015215
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.4235/jkgs.2013.17.2.71
Abstract
- BACKGROUND
On the point of entering into the aged society, frailty will be recognized as a new geriatric problem in Korea. This study was conducted to identify clinical factors related to frailty in the community dwelling elderly.
METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study comprised of 515 participants among 834 potential subjects who were residents of three towns in Gyeong-ju and had health check-ups at a university hospital in the same region. Using the Korean Frailty Index, those with a total score of 5 or more were considered frail and those with scores 3 to 4 as prefrail. Socio-demographics, anthropometry and laboratory data were the selected clinical factors. Those younger than 65 years or with incomplete data were excluded. Finally, 447 participants were analyzed.
RESULTS
Among the participants, those identified as frail were 20 (4.5%), prefrail 72 (16.1%) and robust 355 (79.4%). By gender, the percentage of frail, prefrail and robust individuals were 3.2%, 17.4% and 79.5%, respectively, in men and 5.4, 15.2% and 79.4% in women (p=0.447). On ordinal logistic regression analysis, factors related to frailty were increased age (odds ratio [OR], 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.17), functional disability (OR, 8.88; 95% CI, 4.46 to 17.68), chronic disease such as pulmonary disease (OR, 4.69; 95% CI, 1.47 to 14.99) or hypertension (OR, 2.23; 95% CI, 1.15 to 4.32), increased waist circumference (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.11), decreased serum cholesterol (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97 to 0.99) and elevated blood urea nitrogen (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.14).
CONCLUSION
Clinical factors related to frailty were age, functional disability, chronic disease, waist circumference, serum cholesterol and blood urea nitrogen. Primary physicians should assess frailty when seeing elderly patients who have these factors.
