Age- and Gender-Specific Prevalence of Frailty and Its Outcomes in the Longevous Population: The Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study

Background: Frailty is an epidemic age-related syndrome addressing heavy burden to the healthcare system. Subject to the rarity, age-, and gender-specific prevalence of frailty and its prognosis among the longevous population remains under-investigated.

Methods: Based on the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS, 2008–2018), individuals aged ≥ 65 years having complete data of frailty were recruited. Modified Fried criteria (exhaustion, shrink, weakness, low mobility, and inactivity) were adopted to define pre-frailty (1–2 domains) and frailty (≥3 domains), respectively. The association between pre-frailty/frailty and adverse outcomes (frequent hospitalization, limited physical performance, cognitive decline, multimorbidity, and dependence) was analyzed using logistic regression models. The association between pre-frailty/frailty and mortality was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. Age- and gender-stratified analyses were performed.

Results: Totally, 13,859 participants aged 85.8 ± 11.1 years, including 2,056 centenarians, were recruited. The overall prevalence of pre-frailty and frailty were 54.1 and 26.3%, respectively. Only 5.0% of centenarians were non-frailty whereas 59.9% of the young-old (65–79 years) showed pre-frailty. Both pre-frailty and frailty were associated with the increased risk of multiple adverse outcomes, such as incident limited physical performance, cognitive decline and dependence, respectively ( P < 0.05). Frail males were more vulnerable to the risk of mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1–2.6) compared with frail females (HR = 1.9, 95%CI, 1.7–2.1). The strongest association between frailty and mortality was observed among the young-old (HR = 3.6, 95%CI, 2.8–4.5). Exhaustion was the most common domain among patients with pre-frailty (74.8%) or frailty (83.2%), followed by shrink (32.3%) in pre-frailty and low mobility (83.0%) in frailty. Inactivity among females aged 65–79 years showed the strongest association with the risk of mortality (HR = 3.50, 95%CI, 2.52–4.87).

Conclusion: A huge gap exists between longer life and healthy aging in China. According to the age- and gender-specific prevalence and prognosis of frailty, the strategy of frailty prevention and intervention should be further individualized.