Identifying Groups of Older Adults with Shared Frailty Trajectories
Author Information
Author(s): Hillary Spangler, Wenyi Xie, David Lynch, Feng-Chang Lin, John Batsis
Primary Institution: University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Hypothesis
Identifying groups experiencing different frailty trajectories is critical for identifying those at high risk of frailty progression and prevention.
Conclusion
Social determinants of health and rurality are linked to progressive frailty trajectories, indicating a need for policy interventions.
Supporting Evidence
- The study included older adults with at least two interviews regarding their frailty status.
- Three trajectories of frailty were identified: stable, improving, and worsening.
- The majority of participants had a stable trajectory with little change in frailty status.
Takeaway
This study looked at older adults and found that some get better, some stay the same, and some get worse with frailty over time, and things like income and education can affect this.
Methodology
Latent class growth analysis was used on data from the National Health and Aging Trend Study to identify frailty trajectories.
Participant Demographics
Participants were 56.9% female, with a median age of 70-74.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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