The Relationship between Elderly s Frailty and Quality of Life

Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in the elderly that carries an increased risk of poor health outcomes (Fried, Ferrucci, Darer, Williamson, and Anderson, ۲۰۰۴). Frailty has been defined as a physiologic state of increased susceptibility to stressors that decrease physiologic reservoirs, resulting from aging and decline of function of multiple physiologic organs (Fried et al., ۲۰۰۴). Fried et al. (۲۰۰۱) has defined the frailty as meeting three out of five phenotypic criteria: ۱-low grip strength, ۲-low energy, ۳-slowed waking speed, ۴-low physical activity and ۵-unintentional weight loss. Up to now, no enough documented study was seen about frailty syndrome in Iran. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between frailty components and quality of life among Iranian elderly.A total of one hundred and forty older adults (age ۷۰ ± ۸; ۲۹% were female) living in Shiraz, Iran were recruited by convenient sampling. Frailty was evaluated using five components (weight loss, weak strength, slowness, exhaustion and low physical activity) of phenotype approach (Fried, ۲۰۰۱) and quality of life was assessed using SF-۱۲ questionnaire (Ware, Kosinski, and Keller, ۱۹۹۶, ۱۲ items, two dimensions: Physical Component Summary (PCS) α = ۰.۶۶; and Mental Component Summary (MCS) α=۰.۷۱), respectively.According to Fried’s frailty criteria, ۳۶ participants (۲۶%) were ‘‘normal”, ۹۲ (۶۶%) were ‘‘pre-frail’’, and ۱۲ (۹%) were frail. Linear regression analysis showed that among five frailty criteria, exhaustion was the best predictor for SF-۱۲, PCS and MCS (β= ۰.۶۵***, ۰.۲۱* and ۰.۸۰***, respectively). Furthermore, frailty components can predict the elderly’s quality of life, PCS and MCS with values of Adjusted R Square of ۶۴%, ۱۶% and ۶۶%, respectively.We came to the conclusion that frailty syndrome leads to a decrease in quality of life and performance of daily living activities in the elderly. Results of this study emphasized the role of some components of frailty on quality of life, allowing the development of individualized preventive interventions for a successful aging.

کلیدواژه ها:

Frailty ، Elderly ، Health ، quality of life