Frailty Status Typologies in Spanish Older Population: Associations with Successful Aging

José M. Tomás, Trinidad Sentandreu-Mañó and Irene Fernández
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José M. Tomás: Department of Methodology for the Behavioural Sciences, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Trinidad Sentandreu-Mañó: Advanced Research Methods Applied to Quality of Life Promotion (ARMAQoL), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Irene Fernández: Department of Methodology for the Behavioural Sciences, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Defining frailty typologies would contribute to guiding specific care interventions. These typologies could additionally be related to different health outcomes. This study aims at identifying subgroups of frail older adults based on the physical frailty phenotype and examining the relationships of these frailty profiles with quality of life and perceived health. Methods: This study relies on data from the SHARE project, namely a representative sample of 1765 Spanish-dwelling older adults identified as frail or pre-frail. Analysis included general descriptive statistics, exploratory latent class analysis (LCA) to determine the number of frailty subgroups, and LCA with covariates to examine differential relationships with markers of successful aging. Results: Statistical criteria and interpretability of the classes suggested that the LCA model with four classes should be retained. Class 1 was identified as the “frail people” group, Class 2 “activity problems” group, Class 3 “fatigued” group, and those belonging to Class 4 “lack of strength” group. Final LCA with covariates showed lower levels of quality of life and perceived health of the “frail” as compared to other frailty subgroups. Conclusion: This study revealed four different patterns of frailty attributes and further offered evidence on individuals’ differential status of health regarding distinct frailty conditions.

Keywords: older adults; frailty profiles; latent class analysis; quality of life; perceived health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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