Identifying frailty in older adults in rural Victoria, Australia : a secondary analysis of population health data

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of frailty among community-dwelling older adults in regional Victoria, Australia. Methods: Frailty status of 376 participants from the Crossroads II cross-sectional study was assessed by selected markers of frailty. The selected variables were psychometrically tested. Associations between frailty and socio-demographic, environmental and health factors were analysed using chi-square, ANOVA and binary logistic regression (BLR). Results: Estimated prevalence of frailty was 39.4%. BLR indicated that frailty decreased with higher educational attainment, (OR =.23; 95% CI:.10-.51) increased for divorced/separated participants (OR = 2.68; 95% CI: 1.29-5.56) and when having three (OR = 3.27; 95% CI: 1.07-9.98), four (OR = 7.20; 95% CI: 2.22-23.31) or five or more chronic conditions (OR = 9.18; 95% CI: 2.83-29.72). Discussion: Frailty in this Australian regional community-dwelling sample was higher than other studies conducted in urban areas of Australia. Present results highlight the importance of exploring the multidimensionality of the frailty construct to have a better understanding which factors are associated with the development of this syndrome.