Prevalence and 10-Year outcomes of frailty in older adults in relation to deficit accumulation

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence and 10-year outcomes of frailty in older adults in relation to deficit accumulation. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: The National Population Health Survey of Canada, with frailty estimated at baseline (1994/95) and mortality follow-up to 2004/05. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling older adults (N=2,740, 60.8% women) aged 65 to 102 from 10 Canadian provinces. During the 10-year follow-up, 1,208 died. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported health information was used to construct a frailty index (Frailty Index) as a proportion of deficits accumulated in individuals. The main outcome measure was mortality. RESULTS: The prevalence of frailty increased with age in men and women (correlation coefficient=0.955-0.994, P