Frailty, a dynamic state, is a consequence of cumulative deficits in multiple physiological
systems accompanied by an increased vulnerability to stressor events.
1
The aging of the population has increased the prevalence of frailty substantially,
especially among the costliest patients
2
; however, the current health care response to frailty is mainly reactive and acute
care–based. Some have proposed primary care approaches to frailty management in community
settings.
3
Although frailty occurs more often in the older population, it can occur at any time
in a person’s life.
1
Thus, identifying frailty earlier is advantageous for its reversal or control. However,
previous studies on frailty have mainly been conducted in people 65 years and older.
It is well known that frailty in older adults is independently associated with health
care burden across acute and post-acute care, and outpatient sectors.
4
There is a knowledge gap in understanding the association between frailty and health
care utilization in community-dwelling middle-aged adults. With a few exceptions,
5
,6
most prior studies of frailty used nonrepresentative samples. With a nationally representative
sample, we describe the prevalence of frailty in the United States and evaluate the
associations between frailty and health care utilization in community-dwelling middle-aged
and older adults. These results are discussed to inform policymaking and quality improvements
in primary care settings.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Frailty: implications for clinical practice and public health.Lancet. 2019; 394: 1365-1375
- Increased healthcare costs associated with frailty among community-dwelling older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2019; 84: 103898
- Best practice guidelines for the management of frailty: a British Geriatrics Society, Age UK and Royal College of General Practitioners report.Age Ageing. 2014; 43: 744-747
- Frailty phenotype and healthcare costs and utilization in older women.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018; 66: 1276-1283
- Frailty in older adults: a nationally representative profile in the United States.J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015; 70: 1427-1434
- Frailty and determinants of health among older adults in the United States 2011-2016.J Aging Health. 2022; 34: 233-244
- A simple frailty questionnaire (FRAIL) predicts outcomes in middle aged African Americans.J Nutr Health Aging. 2012; 16: 601-608
- National Health Interview Survey [Data set]. 2021.Date accessed: March 15, 2022
- Management of frailty: opportunities, challenges, and future directions.Lancet. 2019; 394: 1376-1386
- Measuring frailty in medicare data: development and validation of a claims-based frailty index.J Gerontol Ser A. 2017; 00: 1-8
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 27, 2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
A.Y. and S.Z. contributed equally to this work.
Research reported in this publication was supported, in part, by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AG071809 and K24AG073527. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
A.Y. has been supported by research grants from various funding agencies for unrelated work. He reports fees from Xavor, fees and stock options from HEAL, and stock options from TochTech. D.H.K. has been supported by the grants from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health for unrelated work. He received personal fees from Alosa Health and VillageMD.
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© 2022 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
