Dataset Information

Developing physical frailty specifications for investigation of frailty pathways in older people.

ABSTRACT: Different frailty definitions are suitable for different purposes. When investigating its key multidimensional predictors and effects, narrower definitions of frailty that exclude these elements may be more desirable. For this purpose, candidate physical frailty specifications are constructed and then evaluated on their construct and concurrent validity. For 4638 participants aged 65 to 89 years from wave 2 (2004) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, confirmatory factor analysis is performed to create physical frailty specifications with four indicators (slowness, weakness, exhaustion, and weight loss) and with three indicators (slowness, weakness, and either exhaustion or weight loss). Using derived factor scores, their convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity are compared. For specifications with four indicators and with three indicators including exhaustion, slowness contributes dominantly to the physical frailty factor. However, with three indicators including weight loss, weakness contributes most. Where represented, weight loss only contributes minimally. Higher factor scores are significantly associated with chronic diseases, functional impairment, and poor self-rated health, although less so for the third specification. Factor scores for the first two specifications have low correlation with psychological and social frailty while those for the third have negligible correlation. Factor scores increase with higher Frailty Index although again less so for the third specification. Minor differences are seen across gender. On account of their convergent, discriminatory, and concurrent validity, physical frailty specifications with four indicators and with three indicators including exhaustion hold promise for use in investigation of frailty pathways involving multidimensional predictors and effects.

SUBMITTER: Ding YY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5005901 | biostudies-other | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Developing physical frailty specifications for investigation of frailty pathways in older people.

Ding Yew Y YY

Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands) 20160408 2

Different frailty definitions are suitable for different purposes. When investigating its key multidimensional predictors and effects, narrower definitions of frailty that exclude these elements may be more desirable. For this purpose, candidate physical frailty specifications are constructed and then evaluated on their construct and concurrent validity. For 4638 participants aged 65 to 89 years from wave 2 (2004) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, confirmatory factor analysis is perfo ...[more]

PMID: 27059656

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Frailty represents a public health priority and an increasingly prevalent condition in the ageing population. It is seen as reflecting an interaction among individual factors and a range of environmental elements. This study aims to examine the association between frailty and individual factors, physical and social environments among Chinese older people. METHODS:The data were from the Shanghai Healthy City Survey in 2017, which sampled 2559 older people aged ≥60 years from 67 neighbourhoods. The FRAIL scale was used to assess frailty, and social and physical environments were assessed using validated and psychometrically tested instruments. Individual factors included age, gender, education, employment, marital status, smoking, drinking, physical exercise, organization participation, self-rated health and psychological well-being. A multilevel analysis was conducted to examine whether physical and social environments were associated with frailty. RESULTS:The prevalence of pre-frailty and frailty were 39.5 and 16.9%, respectively. The prevalence of frailty increased with age from 14.6% (60-64 years) to 26.5% (≥75 years). After adjusting for age and/or gender, older age, women, and those with low education, alcohol dependence, physical inactivity, poor self-rated health, or psychological disorders had a higher prevalence of frailty. The multilevel analysis indicated that after controlling for individual covariates, compared to the 1st quartile of aesthetic quality, the odds ratio (OR) of frailty for the 4th quartile was 0.65 (0.47-0.89); compared to the 1st quartile of walking environment, the OR of frailty for the 4th quartile was 0.43 (0.19-0.95); compared to the 1st quartile of social cohesion, the OR of frailty for the 4th quartile was 0.73 (0.54-0.99); compared to the 1st quartile of social participation, the ORs of frailty for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quartiles were 0.76 (0.59-0.97), 0.59 (0.45-0.77) and 0.59 (0.45-0.77), respectively. CONCLUSIONS:Frailty is a highly prevalent health condition among the aged population in China. Healthcare should focus on frail elderly who are older age, women, those with low education, and those with mental health problems. It may decrease frailty among Chinese older people to encourage social participation and healthy behaviours and to build aesthetic, walkable and cohesive neighbourhoods.

Dataset Information

Developing physical frailty specifications for investigation of frailty pathways in older people.

Publications

Developing physical frailty specifications for investigation of frailty pathways in older people.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets