Frailty and mobility in hospitalized older adults: an analytical cross sectional study

TL;DR

The study found that frail older adults in hospital have significantly lower mobility compared to non-frail and pre-frail individuals.

Contribution

This study quantifies the relationship between frailty and mobility in hospitalized older adults using a cross-sectional design.

Findings

Frail older adults had significantly lower mobility scores (15.2) compared to non-frail (27.6) and prefrail (25.9) individuals.

46.07% of participants were prefrail and 36.74% were frail, indicating a high prevalence of frailty in hospitalized older adults.

Abstract

to analyze the association between frailty and mobility among hospitalized older adults in general medical wards.

this analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in a hospital in southern Brazil. Data collection involved a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, physical frailty phenotype markers, and the Perme Intensive Care Unit Mobility Score. The study included patients aged 60 years or older admitted to general medical wards. Exclusion criteria were critical illness, intensive care unit indication, pending transfer, or droplet precautions. Descriptive statistics, Tukey’s test, and the test for equality of proportions were used.

of the 547 participants, 46.07% were prefrail and 36.74% were frail. A significant difference in mobility scores was found between frail (15.2 ± 8.95) and non-frail (27.6 ± 5.05) older adults (p < 0.001), and between frail (15.2 ± 8.95) and prefrail (25.9 ± 6.45) individuals (p < 0.001).

frail older adults hospitalized in general medical wards exhibited significantly lower mobility levels compared to their non frail and prefrail counterparts.

analisar a relação entre a condição de fragilidade e mobilidade física na pessoa idosa hospitalizada em enfermaria.

estudo transversal analítico, conduzido em hospital do Sul do Brasil. Para obtenção dos dados, utilizou-se questionário de informações sociodemográficas e clínicas, marcadores do fenótipo de fragilidade física e o Perme Intensive Care Unit Mobility Score. Incluíram-se pacientes com 60 anos ou mais, hospitalizados em enfermarias. Excluíram-se casos críticos, com indicação de UTI, aguardando transferência ou em precaução de gotículas. Empregou se estatística descritiva, teste de Tukey e teste de hipótese de igualdade das proporções.

dos 547 participantes, 46,07% eram pré-frágeis e 36,74% frágeis. Houve associação dos escores de mobilidade física entre pessoas idosas frágeis 15,2 (±8,95) e não frágeis 27,6 (±5,05), p<0,001 e entre frágeis 15,2 (±8,95) e pré-frágeis 25,9 (±6,45), p<0,001.

pessoas idosas frágeis hospitalizadas em enfermaria apresentaram menor mobilidade quando comparadas às não frágeis e pré-frágeis.