Initial Manifestations of Frailty Criteria and the Development of Frailty Phenotype in the Women's Health and Aging Study II

Background. Understanding points of onset of the frailty syndrome is vital to early identification of at-risk individuals and to targeting intervention efforts to those components that are first affected, when reversal may be most possible. This study aims to characterize natural history by which co...

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Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2008-09, Vol.63 (9), p.984-990
Main Authors: Xue, Qian-Li, Bandeen-Roche, Karen, Varadhan, Ravi, Zhou, Jing, Fried, Linda P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aged
Chronic illnesses
Exhaustion
Fatigue
Female
Frail Elderly
Genotype & phenotype
Geriatric Assessment
Humans
Hypotheses
Likert scale
Mortality
Motor Activity
Muscle Strength
Muscle weakness
Older people
Phenotype
Physical activity
Physical examinations
Physiologic reserve
Risk Factors
Sarcopenia
Walking
Walking speed
Weight Loss
Womens health
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Summary:Background. Understanding points of onset of the frailty syndrome is vital to early identification of at-risk individuals and to targeting intervention efforts to those components that are first affected, when reversal may be most possible. This study aims to characterize natural history by which commonly used frailty criteria manifest and to assess whether the rate of progression to frailty depends on initial manifestations. Methods. The investigation was based on a 7.5-year observational study of 420 community-dwelling women aged 70–79 years who were not frail at baseline, with frailty defined as meeting ≥3 of 5 criteria: weight loss, slow walking speed, weakness, exhaustion, and low physical activity level. Results. The 7.5-year incidence of frailty was 9% among women who were nonfrail at baseline. Despite significant heterogeneity, weakness was the most common first manifestation, and occurrence of weakness, slowness, and low physical activity preceded exhaustion and weight loss in 76% of the women who were nonfrail at baseline. Women with exhaustion or weight loss as initial presenting symptoms were 3–5 times more likely to become frail than were women without any criterion (p
ISSN:1079-5006
1758-535X
DOI:10.1093/gerona/63.9.984