Table 1 General characteristics of participants overall and by frailty states. Values are absolute frequencies (percentages) unless stated otherwise
Frailty states according to Frail-VIG index | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total (n = 412) | Non-frailty < 0.20 (n = 12) | Mild frailty 0.20–035 (n = 116) | Moderate frailty 0.36–050 (n = 191) | Severe frailty > 0.50 (n = 93) | ||
Variable | Description | |||||
Age, mean (SD) | 88.0 (8.1) | 86.7 (8.0) | 88.8 (7.4) | 88.1 (8.2) | 86.8 (8.8) | |
Female | 282 (68,4) | 9 (75.0) | 81 (69.8) | 126 (66.0) | 66 (71.0) | |
Health-related quality of life | EQ-5D-3L value, mean (SD) | 0.30 (0.23) | 0.48 (0.19) | 0.42 (0.20) | 0.29 (0.22) | 0.13 (0.15) |
Domains and variables of Frail-VIG frailty index | ||||||
Functional domain | ||||||
IADLs: Money management | Needs help managing financial matters (bank, shops, or restaurants) | 350 (85.0) | 5 (41.7) | 79 (68.1) | 173 (90.6) | 93 (100.0) |
IADLs: Telephone use | Needs help using the telephone | 132 (32.0) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (3.4) | 58 (30.4) | 70 (75.3) |
IADLs: Medication management | Needs assistance in preparing or administering medications | 304 (73.8) | 0 (0.0) | 51 (44.0) | 161 (84.3) | 92 (98.9) |
ADLs: Barthel index (BI) | No dependency (BI > = 95) | 6 (1.5) | 1 (8.3) | 3 (2.6) | 2 (1.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Mild-moderate dependency (BI from 90 to 65) | 143 (34.7) | 11 (91.7) | 79 (68.1) | 51 (26.7) | 2 (2.2) | |
Moderate-severe dependency (BI from 60 to 25) | 175 (42.5) | 0 (0.0) | 33 (28.4) | 111 (58.1) | 31 (33.3) | |
Absolute dependency (BI <=20) | 88 (21.4) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.9) | 27 (14.1) | 60 (64.5) | |
Nutritional domain | ||||||
Malnutrition | Weight loss > = 5% in the las 6 months | 70 (17.0) | 0 (0.0) | 10 (8.6) | 34 (17.8) | 26 (28.0) |
Cognitive domain | ||||||
Degree of cognitive impairment | No cognitive impairment | 198 (48.1) | 12 (100.0) | 90 (77.6) | 86 (45.0) | 10 (10.8) |
Mild-moderate cognitive impairment (equivalent to GDS < =5) | 171 (41.5) | 0 (0.0) | 26 (22.4) | 93 (48.7) | 52 (55.9) | |
Severe-very severe cognitive impairment (equivalent to GDS > =6) | 43 (10.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 12 (6.3) | 31 (33.3) | |
Emotional domain | ||||||
Depressive syndrome | Need for antidepressant medication | 158 (38.3) | 0 (0.0) | 25 (21.6) | 82 (42.9) | 51 (54.8) |
Insomnia/anxiety | Frequent need for benzodiazepines or other psychiatric drugs with a sedative effect for insomnia/anxiety | 226 (54.9) | 4 (33.3) | 55 (47.4) | 104 (54.5) | 63 (67.7) |
Social domain | ||||||
Social vulnerability | Do health care professionals perceive the presence of social vulnerability? | 212 (51.5) | 4 (33.3) | 69 (59.5) | 93 (48.7) | 46 (49.5) |
Geriatric syndromes | ||||||
Delirium | Presence of delirium and/or behaviour disorder requiring antipsychotic drugs in the last6 months | 119 (28.9) | 0 (0.0) | 8 (6.9) | 48 (25.1) | 63 (67.7) |
Falls | In the last 6 months, ≥2 falls or hospitalization due to a fall. | 112 (27.2) | 0 (0.0) | 21 (18.1) | 56 (29.3) | 35 (37.6) |
Ulcers | Presence of ulcer (pressure or vascular, any grade) | 85 (20.6) | 0 (0.0) | 9 (7.8) | 39 (20.4) | 37 (39.8) |
Polypharmacy | Taking ≥5 drugs | 365 (88.6) | 8 (66.7) | 91 (78.4) | 178 (93.2) | 88 (94.6) |
Dysphagia | Difficulty swallowing when eating or drinking? Presence of aspiration respiratory infections during the last 6 months? | 75 (18.2) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (1.7) | 24 (12.6) | 49 (52.7) |
Severe symptoms | ||||||
Pain | Need for ≥2 conventional analgesics and/or strong opioids for pain control | 87 (21.1) | 3 (25.0) | 15 (12.9) | 49 (25.7) | 20 (21.5) |
Dyspnoea | Basal dyspnoea impeding the ability to leave the house and/or opioids are frequently needed | 19 (4.6) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (2.6) | 10 (5.2) | 6 (6.5) |
Diseases | ||||||
Cancer | Active cancer | 36 (8.7) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (3.4) | 24 (12.6) | 12 (12.9) |
Respiratory | Presence of any type of chronic respiratory disease (COPD, restrictive lung disease...) | 116 (28.2) | 1 (8.3) | 23 (19.8) | 61 (31.9) | 31 (33.3) |
Cardiac | Presence of any type of chronic heart disease (heart failure, ischemic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia | 248 (60.2) | 2 (16.7) | 57 (49.1) | 124 (64.9) | 65 (69.9) |
Neurological | Presence of any type of neurodegenerative disease (Parkinson, ALS...) or a history of stroke (ischemic or haemorrhagic) | 151 (36.7) | 0 (0.0) | 24 (20.7) | 75 (39.3) | 52 (55.9) |
Digestive | Presence of any type of chronic digestive disease (chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, chronic pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, ... | 39 (9.5) | 1 (8.3) | 8 (6.9) | 22 (11.5) | 8 (8.6) |
Renal | Presence of chronic renal failure (GFR < 60) | 204 (49.5) | 4 (33.3) | 57 (49.1) | 102 (53.4) | 41 (44.1) |