Background:The phenotype of frailty proposed by Fried et al. has been related with increasedvulnerability for the development of adverse health-related outcomes. However, this phenotype is not often usedin daily clinical practice. On the other hand, poor self-reported health status (SRHS) has been associated withsimilar adverse health-related outcomes. Objectives:To determine the association between poor SRHS andfrailty. Design, setting and participants: Cross-sectional study of 927 community-dwelling elderly aged 70 andolder, participating in the Mexican Study of Nutritional and Psychosocial Markers of Frailty. Measurements:SRHS was established by the question “How do you rate your health status in general?” Frailty was definedaccording to the phenotype proposed by Fried et al. The association between SRHS and frailty was determinedthrough the construction of multinomial logistic regression models. Final analyses were adjusted by socio-demographic and health covariates, including depressive symptoms. Also, agreement between SRHS and thephenotype of frailty was explored. Results:Prevalence of frailty was 14.1%, and 4.4% of participants rated theirhealth status as “poor”. The unadjusted regression analyses demonstrated that fair and poor SRHS weresignificantly associated with prefrail and frail status. After adjustment for multiple covariates, the associationremained statistically significant. However, in the final adjustment for depressive symptoms, only the associationbetween poor SRHS and frail status continued to be statistically significant. Fair agreement between poor SRHSand frail status was also found. Conclusion:Poor SRHS shares common correlates as well as health-relatedadverse outcomes with frailty syndrome, and remains associated with it even when possible confounders aretaken into account. Therefore, poor SRHS could be further explored as an option for frailty syndrome screening.
Frailty among Mexican community-dwelling elderly: a story told 11 years later.The Mexican Health and Aging Study