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Cited by 301Frailty in Older AdultsAging, Health, and DisabilityHealth disparities and outcomes

Social Determinants of Frailty

Woo, J., Goggins, W., Sham, A., Ho, S.C.·2005·Gerontology
DOI 10.1159/000088705
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Abstract

Background: Frailty represents a body-wide set of a linked deterioration that occurs with ageing, but is susceptible to active intervention and is reversible. The concept of frailty should include broader environmental factors. A quantitative measure of frailty, the frailty index (FI), developed for elderly Canadians and shown to be valid for an elderly Chinese population, was examined for its association with socioeconomic, lifestyle, and social support network factors in an elderly Chinese cohort. Objective: 2,032 people aged 70 years and over recruited by stratified random sampling of the population were surveyed in 1990–1991, and information obtained regarding physical and functional health, psychological factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic and social support factors. The FI was constructed from 62 variables covering cognitive, psychological and physical health, and tested for association with socioeconomic, lifestyle and social support factors using ANOVA and t test. Results: The mean FI for women was higher than for men (0.16 ± 0.08, n = 1,033 vs. 0.13 ± 0.08, n = 999, p < 0.001, t test). For men, increasing frailty was observed with non-white collar occupations, inadequate expenses, no or little exercise, abstinence from alcohol, few relatives or neighbours and no or infrequent participation in helping others. For women, little contact with relatives (rather than number of relatives), and absence of participation in community/religious activities were additional factors. Conclusion: FI is influenced by social and environmental factors in keeping with the concept of frailty being multi-dimensional. Such a quantitative measure may be a useful indicator of the health of elderly populations as well as for public health measures to combat frailty.

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Crossref · 10.1159/000088705

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  • The results yielded by the frailty index have been consistent between surveys evaluated by our group and by others even though not every frailty index considers the same deficits or number of deficits.

    “the results yielded by the frailty index have been consistent between surveys evaluated by our group [4-7] and by others [8-11] even though not every frailty index considers the same deficits, or even the same number of deficits.”

    From A standard procedure for creating a frailty index (2008) · cites this paper as [11]

  • The increased impact of being male on mortality likely reflects the observation from earlier studies that while men accumulate fewer deficits than women, any given level of deficit accumulation is more lethal for them and at any given age, females seem to be more frail than males.

    “This likely reflects the observation from earlier studies that while men accumulate fewer deficits than do women, any given level of deficit accumulation is more lethal for them and at any given age, females seem to be more frail than males [6,11].”

    From A standard procedure for creating a frailty index (2008) · cites this paper as [11]

  • It does not matter if study A considered 40 deficits from set X and study B considered 60 deficits from set Y; the estimates from each (e.g. rate of deficit accumulation, relationship with mortality, limit) appear to be similar.

    “it does not matter if study A considered 40 deficits from set X of deficits and study B considered 60 deficits from set Y of deficits; the estimates from each (e.g. the rate of deficit accumulation, the relationship between deficit accumulation and mortality, or the limit to deficit accumulation) appear to be similar.”

    From A standard procedure for creating a frailty index (2008) · cites this paper as [11]

  • In each study, the frailer the person is (the higher the deficit count) the more vulnerable they are to adverse outcomes.

    “In each study, the frailer the person is (the higher the deficit count) the more vulnerable they are to adverse outcomes [5,8,11].”

    From A standard procedure for creating a frailty index (2008) · cites this paper as [11]

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Authors
Woo, J., Goggins, W., Sham, A., & Ho, S. C.
Affiliations
Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
ORCID
Venue
Gerontology
Publisher
S. Karger AG
Published
2005
Volume
51
Issue
6
Pages
402-408
ISSN
  • 0304-324X (ISSN-L)
  • 1423-0003
DOI
10.1159/000088705
OpenAlex
W2037668867
Cited by
301
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 8
FWCI
2.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Gerontology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Frailty in Older Adults
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
Keywords
frailty, frailty index, social determinants of health, socioeconomic factors, social support networks, older adults, Chinese older adults, gender differences, occupational status, physical activity, alcohol consumption, community participation, religious participation, family contact
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Female, Hong Kong, Humans, Life Style, Male, Social Environment, Social Support, Socioeconomic Factors, Cohort Studies, Frail Elderly

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