Influence of the Amazonian context on the frailty of older adults: A population-based study

The study aimed to identify the prevalence of frailty syndrome and its associated factors in older adults residents in an urban area in the interior of Amazonas, Brazil. This is a population-based cross-sectional study with a sample of 265 older adults (60 years or older), representative of the urban area of Coari-AM. Using the adapted Fried phenotype, those with 3 criteria or more were considered frail. Socio-demographic, health, and functionality information was collected. Multivariate analysis was used through Poisson regression with robust variance, using a hierarchical method for the dichotomous outcome of frailty. The prevalence of frailty was 9.4 % and in the final multivariate analysis model the factors associated with frailty were: advanced age (PR: 4.1; 95 % CI: 1.8-9.3), income less than one minimum wage (PR: 3.4; 1.7-6.9), masonry housing (PR: 3.3; 1.3-8.2), never having lived in a riverside community (PR: 2.7; 1.4-5.4), use of 3 medications or more (PR: 3.1; 1,4-6.9), history of falling (PR: 2.3; 1.1-4.9), and fear of falling (PR: 4.1; 1.3-13.0). The study concluded that the prevalence of frailty in Coari-AM was lower than other Brazilian cities with a similar HDI. In addition to factors associated with frailty already well described in the literature, the influence of the Amazonian culture and environment during the course of life was shown to have a possible protective effect on health outcomes in later life.