Background: Little is known regarding the complex care needs, level of frailty or quality of life of multi-morbid older patients.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between frailty, complexity of care and quality of life in multi-morbid older people.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: Thirteen primary care practices in the Netherlands.
Participants: 1,150 multi-morbid older people living in the community.
Measurements: The level of frailty was assessed with the Groningen Frailty Indicator. Complexity of care needs was measured with the Intermed for the Elderly Self-Assessment. Quality of life (QoL) was measured with two items of the RAND-36.
Results: In total, 758 out of 1,150 (65.9%) patients were frail, 8.3% had complex care needs, and the mean QoL score was 7.1 (standard deviation 1.2). Correlations between frailty and complexity, frailty and QoL, and complexity of care and QoL were 0.67, -0.51 and -0.52 (all p<0.001) respectively. All patients with complex care needs were frail, but, only 12.5% of the frail patients had complex care needs. Problems at climbing up stairs was associated with higher levels of frailty and complexity of care but with a lower QoL.
Conclusions: Higher levels of frailty and complexity of care are associated with a lower QoL in multi-morbid older people. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding these concepts and are valuable for the development of tailored interventions for older persons in the future.