Table 1.
Characteristics of participants (1946–51 born cohort) overall and by level of frailty and limitation in physical function in 2016 survey in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
| Total | Fraila | Non-frail | Limitation in physical functionb | No limitation in physical function | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 8,171) | (n = 912) | (n = 7,259) | (n = 2,040) | (n = 6,131) | |
| Age, years, mean (SD) | 68 (1) | 68 (1) | 68 (1) | 68 (1) | 68 (1) |
| Location (ARIA+), n (%) | |||||
| Majorities of Australia | 3,209 (39) | 320 (35) | 2,889 (40) | 768 (38) | 2,441 (40) |
| Inner regional of Australia | 3,306 (40) | 362 (40) | 2,944 (41) | 793 (39) | 2,513 (41) |
| Regional (Outer regional, remote and very remote Australia) | 1,656 (20) | 230 (25) | 1,426 (20) | 479 (23) | 1,177 (19) |
| Housing arrangement, n (%) | |||||
| House/unit/apartment/villa/townhouse | 7,764 (95) | 836 (92) | 6,928 (95) | 1,894 (93) | 5,870 (96) |
| Caravan/mobile home/retirement village/hostel/residential aged care | 407 (5) | 76 (8) | 331 (5) | 146 (7) | 261 (4) |
| Education, n (%) | |||||
| No formal education | 1,020 (12) | 186 (20) | 834 (11) | 404 (20) | 616 (10) |
| School or intermediate certificate | 2,003 (25) | 249 (27) | 1,754 (24) | 555 (27) | 1,448 (24) |
| Higher school or leaving certificate | 1,575 (19) | 164 (18) | 1,411 (19) | 398 (20) | 1,177 (19) |
| University degrees of above | 1,731 (21) | 113 (12) | 1,618 (22) | 266 (13) | 1,465 (24) |
| Others | 1,842 (23) | 200 (22) | 1,642 (23) | 417 (20) | 1,425 (23) |
| Ability to manage income, n (%) | |||||
| Impossible | 125 (2) | 47 (5) | 78 (1) | 59 (3) | 66 (1) |
| Difficult always | 615 (8) | 177 (19) | 438 (6) | 307 (15) | 308 (5) |
| Difficult sometimes | 1,658 (20) | 253 (28) | 1,405 (19) | 523 (26) | 1,135 (19) |
| Not too bad | 3,974 (49) | 346 (38) | 3,628 (50) | 904 (44) | 3,070 (50) |
| Easy | 1799 (22) | 89 (10) | 1710 (24) | 247 (12) | 1,552 (25) |
| Frailty b , n (%) | |||||
| Fatiguec | 3,802 (47) | 892 (98) | 2,910 (40) | 1,606 (79) | 2,196 (36) |
| Resistancec | 1,943 (24) | 871 (96) | 1,072 (15) | 1,943 (96) | 0 (0) |
| Ambulationc | 885 (11) | 724 (80) | 161 (2) | 885 (44) | 0 (0) |
| Illness ≥ 5 conditions | 305 (4) | 213 (23) | 92 (1) | 199 (10) | 106 (2) |
| Loss of weight ≥ 5%c | 1,098 (15) | 282 (36) | 816 (13) | 296 (17) | 802 (15) |
| Fall reported in the last survey c,d , n (%) | 2,137 (26) | 392 (43) | 1745 (24) | 772 (38) | 1,365 (22) |
| Leisure physical activity participation, n (%) | |||||
| No leisure physical activity | 1,442 (18) | 473 (52) | 969 (13) | 815 (40) | 627 (10) |
| Any leisure physical activity | 6,729 (82) | 439 (48) | 6,290 (87) | 1,225 (60) | 5,504 (90) |
Data presented in mean (SD) unless specified; ARIA+, Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia; FRAIL, Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illness, Loss of weight.
aWomen were classified as frail if more than two positive responses were recorded out of the five components
bWomen had limitation in physical function if they responded ‘limited a lot’ or ‘limited a little’ in climbing one flight of stairs and/ or walking 100 m.
cMissing data in body mass index (n = 380), fatigue (n = 26), resistance (n = 42), ambulation (n = 34), loss of weight (n = 1,007), history of falls (n = 26)
dFall reported in the last survey was first retrieved from survey 7 (2013). To minimise missing information, if participants did not respond to falls questions in survey 7 (2013), previous survey 6 (2010) was used. If there were still any missing information about previous falls, survey 5 (2007) and survey 4 (2004) were both used using the same procedure as described.