Factors Associated with Frailty in Chronically Ill Older Adults

• Published in: Social work in health care 2009-01, Vol.48 (8), p.798-811
• Main Author: Hackstaff, Lynn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; ADLs; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Chronic Disease - epidemiology; Chronic Illness; community-based care; depression; Depression - epidemiology; Elderly; Female; Frail Elderly; functionality; Geriatric Assessment; geriatrics; health care costs; Health Status; Humans; learned helplessness; Male; Perception; Quality of Life; Residence Characteristics; Self Efficacy; successful aging
• ISSN: 0098-1389; 1541-034X
• DOI: 10.1080/00981380903327897

An ex post facto analysis of a secondary dataset examined relationships between physical frailty, depression, and the self-perceived domains of health status and quality-of-life in older adults. The randomized sample included 992 community-dwelling, chronically ill, and functionally impaired adults age 65 and older who received care from a Southern California Kaiser Permanente medical center between 1998 and 2002. Physical frailty represents a level of physiologic vulnerability and functional loss that results in dependence on others for basic, daily living needs ( Fried et al., 2001 ). The purpose of the study was to identify possible intervention junctures related to self-efficacy of older adults in order to help optimize their functionality. Multivariate correlation analyses showed statistically significant positive correlations between frailty level and depression (r = .18; p = < .05), number of medical conditions (r = .09; p = < .05), and self-rated quality-of-life (r = .24; p = < .05). Frailty level showed a statistically significant negative correlation with self-perceived health status (r = −.25; p = < .05). Notably, no statistically significant correlation was found between age and frailty level (r = −.03; p = < .05). In linear regression, self-perceived health status had a partial variance with frailty level (part r = −.18). The significant correlations found support further research to identify interventions to help vulnerable, older adults challenge self-perceived capabilities so that they may achieve optimum functionality through increased physical activity earlier on, and increased self-efficacy to support successful adaptation to aging-related losses.