Frailty Risk Patterns and Mortality Prediction in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study

Mengjiao Yang; Yang Liu; Kumi Watanabe Miura; Munenori Matsumoto; Dandan Jiao; Zhu Zhu; Xiang Li; Mingyu Cui; Jinrui Zhang; Meiling Qian; Lujiao Huang; Tokie Anme

doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105359

Frailty Risk Patterns and Mortality Prediction in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study

J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Nov 15:105359. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105359. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Mengjiao Yang¹, Yang Liu², Kumi Watanabe Miura³, Munenori Matsumoto⁴, Dandan Jiao⁵, Zhu Zhu⁶, Xiang Li⁷, Mingyu Cui², Jinrui Zhang², Meiling Qian², Lujiao Huang⁸, Tokie Anme⁹

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan; Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
² Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
³ RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ University of Reiwa Health Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan.
⁵ Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital and College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China.
⁶ Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan; School of Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
⁷ Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan; College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
⁸ Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan; Department of Clinical Nutrition, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39557075
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105359

Abstract

Objectives: Frailty is a heterogeneous syndrome with distinct patterns. This study aimed to identify frailty risk patterns and their predictive value for mortality in older adults.

Design: Prospective longitudinal study.

Setting and participants: Data were obtained from a 2017 survey of 609 independently mobile adults aged 65 years and older in suburban Japan, focusing on those at risk for at least 1 frailty dimension.

Methods: Frailty assessments were extracted from the Kihon checklist, and subgroups were identified using latent class analysis. Associations between frailty patterns and 3-year mortality were assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards modeling.

Results: Three frailty patterns were identified: "high risk of cognitive impairment" (76.0%), "moderate risk of cognitive, physical, and oral dysfunction" (14.3%), and "high risk of cognitive, physical, and functional decline" (9.7%). We recorded 52 deaths during a mean follow-up time of 25.7 months (standard deviation: 12.6) and a median follow-up time of 26.5 months. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant survival differences among the groups (log-rank: P < .001). Compared with the high risk of cognitive impairment group, the moderate risk of cognitive, physical, and oral dysfunction group had a 145% higher mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-4.90), while the high risk of cognitive, physical, and functional decline group exhibited a 220% higher risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.53-6.70).

Conclusions and implications: The findings reveal the heterogeneity of frailty among community-dwelling Japanese older adults, with a high prevalence of cognitive impairment risk. The subgroup with risk of cognitive, physical, and functional decline had the highest mortality risk, highlighting the need for multidimensional assessment and intervention.

Keywords: Frailty; aging; cohort; community; mortality.