Vulnerability in older adults in Primary Health Care: challenges associated with frailty and functionality.
Cláudia Martins da Costa, Kellen Rosa Coelho, Patrícia Peres de Oliveira and 5 others
PMID 41059822WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults in primary care who needed help with daily activities were more likely to be vulnerable or frail.
Mildly dependent people were 2.75 times more likely to be at risk of frailty; fully dependent were 2.65 times more likely to be frail.
Key findings
01Among 150 older adults, 20.67% were at risk of frailty and 38.67% were frail by the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13.
02Mild dependence in daily activities was associated with 2.75 times greater probability of being at risk of frailty, and total dependence with 2.65 times greater probability of being frail.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that functional decline causes frailty or vulnerability. Participants were selected by convenience from primary care users, and the authors note a bias toward female older adults. Although part of a multicenter project, these results are from only one municipality. Some frailty measures relied on self-perception, which the authors note may be subjective and hard to verify. People with intellectual, neurological, mental disability or cognitive impairment were excluded, so results may not apply to those groups.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a conflicts-of-interest or funding statement; the publication types list non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 2.75 and 2.65 figures as proof that treating dependence prevents frailty. This was a cross-sectional convenience study, so it shows association, not cause.