Prevalencia de fragilidad en personas mayores de Chile: resultados de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud 2016-2017
Claudia Troncoso-Pantoja, Yeny Concha‐Cisternas, Ana María Leiva-Ordóñez, María Adela Martínez-Sangüinetti, Fanny Petermann‐Rocha, Ximena Díaz-Martínez, Miquel Martorell, Gabriela Nazar, Natalia Ulloa, Igor Cigarroa, Cecilia Albala, Carlos Márquez, Lydia Lera, Carlos Celis‐Morales
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The assessment of frailty among older people could help to reduce its social and health burden. AIM: To determine and characterize the prevalence of frailty in Chilean older adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 233 participants, aged > 60 years, participating in the Chilean National Health Survey 2016-2017. Frailty was assessed using modified Fried criteria. Thus, people classified as frail should meet at least 3 out of the 5 criteria (low strength, low physical activity, low body mass index, slow walking pace and tiredness). RESULTS: The prevalence of frailty was 10.9% (7.7% for men and 14.1% for women). The prevalence of pre-frailty was 59.0% whereas 30.1% of participants were classified as robust. At the age of 80 years 58 and 62% of men and women were frail, respectively. These figures increased to 90 and 87% at the age of 90 years. The prevalence of pre-frailty increased from 43 to 92.1% among men and from 76% and 78% among women from the ages of 60 to 90 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of frailty increased markedly with age. It is important to implement prevention strategies to allow an early identification of high-risk individuals.