Frailty and use of health and community services by community-dwelling older men: the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project

Background: frailty is a concept used to describe older people at high risk of adverse outcomes, including falls, functional decline, hospital or nursing home admission and death. The associations between frailty and use of specific health and community services have not been investigated. Methods:...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Age and ageing 2010-03, Vol.39 (2), p.228-233
Main Authors: Rochat, Stephane, Cumming, Robert G., Blyth, Fiona, Creasey, Helen, Handelsman, David, Le Couteur, David G., Naganathan, Vasi, Sambrook, Philip N., Seibel, Markus J., Waite, Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ageing
Aging
Australia
Care and treatment
Community health services
Community Health Services - utilization
Community living
Community service
Cross-Sectional Studies
Demographic aspects
Disability Evaluation
Doctors
Elder care
elderly
Frail elderly
Frail Elderly - statistics & numerical data
frailty
Geriatric Assessment
Geriatric psychology
Health
Health aspects
Health behavior
Health behaviour
health services
Health Status
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Medicine, Preventive
Men
Mens health
older men
Preventive health services
Preventive medicine
Residence Characteristics
Surveys and Questionnaires
User statistics
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Summary:Background: frailty is a concept used to describe older people at high risk of adverse outcomes, including falls, functional decline, hospital or nursing home admission and death. The associations between frailty and use of specific health and community services have not been investigated. Methods: the cross-sectional relationship between frailty and use of several health and community services in the last 12 months was investigated in 1,674 community-dwelling men aged 70 or older in the Concord Health and Ageing in Men study, a population-based study conducted in Sydney, Australia. Frailty was assessed using a modified version of the Cardiovascular Health Study criteria. Results: overall, 158 (9.4%) subjects were frail, 679 (40.6%) were intermediate (pre-frail) and 837 (50.0%) were robust. Frailty was associated with use of health and community services in the last 12 months, including consulting a doctor, visiting or being visited by a nurse or a physiotherapist, using help with meals or household duties and spending at least one night in a hospital or nursing home. Frail men without disability in activities of daily living were twice more likely to have seen a doctor in the previous 2 weeks than robust men (adjusted odds ratio 2.04, 95% confidence interval 1.21–3.44), independent of age, comorbidity and socio-economic status. Conclusion: frailty is strongly associated with use of health and community services in community-dwelling older men. The high level of use of medical services suggests that doctors and nurses could play a key role in implementation of preventive interventions.
ISSN:0002-0729
1468-2834
DOI:10.1093/ageing/afp257