Abstract
Background: Frailty in older adults is a common geriatric syndrome that can be reversed, thus coping strategies for the aging population are essential. Self-management behaviours may represent cost-effective strategies to reverse physical frailty in community-dwelling older adults. This study aimed to describe the changes in frailty status among community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan and investigate the association of self-management behaviours with changes in frailty status over a four-year follow-up period (2007 to 2011).Methods: This data was retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA), which is a prospective cohort study of 1,283 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older without cognitive impairment. Frailty was assessed based on Fried's frailty phenotype, in which ≥ three criteria indicate frail. Self-management behaviours (maintaining body weight, quitting smoking, drinking less, exercising, diet control, and maintaining a regular lifestyle) were assessed using a questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the associations between self-management behaviours and changes in frailty status.Results: The prevalence of frailty was 8.7% at baseline and 8.1% after four years of follow-up, with 196 (15.3%) deaths. Overall, 74.6% of participants remained in the same state (non-frail or frail), 23.5% worsened (non-frail to frail, including missing data, and frail to death), and only 1.95% improved (frail to non-frail). Being aged ≥ 75-years-old, chronic diseases, and an absence of self-management behaviours were associated with higher risks of frailty at baseline and after follow-up. Exercise was significantly associated with a reversal of frailty in community-dwelling older adults (RR, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.95, 4.95) after adjusting for personal and disease covariates, regardless of whether death was coded as frail or not.Conclusions: Self-management behaviours beneficially reverse frailty status; maintaining regular exercise was especially associated with a reversal of frailty in community-dwelling older adults, even among individuals over 75-years-old and with chronic diseases. Older adults should be encouraged to perform adequate physical exercise to prevent the progression of frailty and ameliorate frailty status.
Self-reported vision impairment and incident prefrailty and frailty in English community-dwelling older adults: findings from a 4-year follow-up study
