A STUDY ON THE ASSESSMENT OF FRAILTY AND INFLUENCING FACTORS IN THE ELDERLY

Yueh-Chin Chung, Ph. D

ABSTRACT

Background: The age structure of the elderly population is rapidly aging in Taiwan. It is estimated that Taiwan will enter a super-aged society in 2025 and increase to 27.4% in 2070. Long-term care ten-year plan 2.0 for the care of frail groups, increase the service items of preventing disability or delaying disability, providing muscle strengthening exercises and reablementn care for the elderly training. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the basic attributes of the research object and the current situation of the degree of frailty; the correlation between the basic attributes of the research object and the degree of frailty and the factors that affect the degree of frailty. Method: Purposive sampling method, the total sample size was 30 in a day care center in central area, Using the questionnaire and interview method of "Chinese version of the Kihon Checklist (KCL)" as a research tool. The SPSS 22.0 software was used for t-test, one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis.t-test and correlation analysis. Results: The research subjects were 19 females (63.3%), aged between 63-94 years old, with an average age of 81.10 years old, with an education level of less than 11 (36.7%) in elementary school; 29 (96.7%) are married, and 29 are living with family members (3-5) (96.7%); exercise 26 (86.7%); smoke 3 (10.0%); drink 1 (3.3%); have hearing problems at 9 (30.0%), sleep well at most 15 ;13 (14.9%) had hypertension, diabetes by 11 (12.6%); 6 (46.1%) had low back pain. In the analysis of frail risk groups, 17 people (56.7%) with a total score of more than 10 points (inclusive) (high risk group for frailty), 11 people (64.7%) are women, and 5 people (39.5%) are 75-84 years old. Among the potential risk groups, 17 (56.7%) were the top two with motor function risk of 3 or more, and 13 (43.3%) had oral function risk of 2 or more. The top two groups of frailty risk groups were 25 (83.3%) with cognitive function risk 1 point, 13 (43.3%) with oral function risk 2 point and 13 (43.3%) with social function risk 2 point. The risk of independent living was positively correlated with total frailty screening; the risk of motor function was positively correlated with total frailty screening; the risk of oral function was negatively correlated with chronic diseases; the risk of social functioning was positively correlated with total frailty screening; Frailty screening was positively correlated overall and negatively correlated with age. Personal attributes of "education level", "exercise status" and "smoking status" items have significant differences in the risk of frailty, and different education levels have significant differences in the risk of social function (t = 2.29, p < .05), elementary school score higher than illiterate; there was a significant difference in risk of nutritional status with or without exercise status (t = 2.81, p < .05), with exercise scored higher than without exercise; with or without smoking status was significantly different in risk of nutritional status (t = .03), p < .05), the score of non-smoking was higher than that of smoking. Conclusion: A reliable and valid screening tool to assess frailty in the elderly, can identify high-risk groups, and can understand the degree of frailty and influencing factors, it is recommended to provide muscle strengthening exercise, oral health care, dietary nutrition, cognitive promotion and social participation to prevent disability or defer reference to disabled services. Frailty assessment is meaningful for the health risk assessment level of the elderly population, and should be extended to elderly care centers or long-term care institutions, so as to develop relevant preventive plans and strategies.

Keywords: The elderly, frailty, Kihon Checklist (KCL) questionnaire, day care.