Prevalence, Incidence, and Risk Factors of Frailty

Frailty is an age-related vulnerable state associated with increased risk of adverse health outcomes. This chapter focuses on the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for frailty. Several studies have provided pooled prevalence of frailty ranging from 10.7% to 19.6%. Frailty tools used, age distribution and sex proportion of the populations, and other related factors can influence the prevalence estimates. The pooled incidence of frailty is 13.6% and the pooled incidence rate is 43.4 cases/1000 person-years. Use of the frailty phenotype, study at low-/middle-income countries, mixed-sex cohorts compared with male-only cohorts, and studies published in 2009 or earlier are associated with a significantly higher incidence of frailty. There are a wide range of various risk factors of frailty, including sociodemographic, lifestyle, behavioral, psychological, and biomedical ones. The knowledge of the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors of frailty will help us identify frailty, predict its development, and provide appropriate care for older adults.