Ability of Self-Reported Frailty Components to Predict Incident Disability, Falls, and All-Cause Mortality: Results From a Population-Based Study of Older British Men.
Efstathios Papachristou, S Goya Wannamethee, Lucy T Lennon and 4 others
PMID 27742583WHAT IT FOUND
Asking older men about slow walking, low activity, exhaustion, and weight loss flagged later disability, falls, or death.
These simple questions pointed to higher risk as well as or better than objective frailty tests.
Key findings
01After age adjustment, self-reported slow walking and physical inactivity were significantly associated with incident disability, falls, and all-cause mortality.
02A self-reported model of slow walking, physical inactivity, and exhaustion identified incident disability better than the objective Fried frailty phenotype.
03Measured grip strength did not predict outcomes, but self-reported difficulty gripping was associated with incident disability and falls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included only white European men, so the findings may not apply to women or other ethnic groups. The response rate for the baseline assessment was 55%. Frail individuals may have died before reexamination, so survival and selection bias are possible. Only 1198 participants had complete data for the outcomes. Disability and falls were self-reported in a questionnaire, and falls were recalled over the previous year. This was an observational prediction study. It did not test whether using these questions improves patient outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these self-reported questions as a proven way to prevent disability or falls, or as better for all older adults. This was a prediction study in older British men, and it did not test any intervention.