Table 1.
Demographic characteristics and prognosis of frailty, by frailty status at baseline.
| Characteristics | Overall | Robust | Prefrailty | Frailty | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In total (%) | 13,859 (100.0) | 2715 (19.6) | 7497 (54.1) | 3647 (26.3) | |
| Age (mean ± SD) | 85.8 ± 11.1 | 79.2 ± 10.0 | 84.2 ± 10.5 | 93.8 ± 8.2 | |
| Sex, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Male | 6252 (45.1) | 1538 (56.7) | 3593 (47.9) | 1121 (30.7) | |
| Female | 7607 (54.9) | 1177 (43.4) | 3904 (52.1) | 2526 (69.3) | |
| Education, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Illiteracy | 8279 (59.7) | 1110 (40.9) | 4421 (59.0) | 2748 (75.4) | |
| Primary school | 4082 (29.5) | 1081 (39.8) | 2311 (30.8) | 690 (18.9) | |
| Middle school or above | 1498 (10.8) | 524 (19.3) | 765 (10.2) | 209 (5.7) | |
| Residence, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Urban | 5648 (40.8) | 1295 (47.7) | 2814 (37.5) | 1539 (42.2) | |
| Rural | 8211 (59.3) | 1420 (52.3) | 4683 (62.5) | 2108 (57.8) | |
| Multimorbidity, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| 1–2 diseases | 5984 (46.4) | 1165 (45.1) | 3181 (45.6) | 1638 (48.9) | |
| ≥3 diseases | 1036 (8.0) | 178 (6.9) | 522 (7.5) | 336 (10.0) | |
| Source of income, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Pension | 2551 (18.4) | 877 (32.3) | 1260 (16.8) | 414 (11.4) | |
| Continuing to work | 1271 (9.2) | 434 (16.0) | 813 (10.8) | 24 (0.7) | |
| Immediate family | 8404 (60.6) | 1202 (44.3) | 4625 (61.7) | 2577 (70.7) | |
| Others or subsidy | 1633 (11.8) | 202 (7.4) | 799 (10.7) | 632 (17.3) | |
| Medical insurance, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| UBMI | 3071 (22.2) | 940 (34.6) | 1513 (20.2) | 618 (17.0) | |
| NRCMS | 6584 (47.5) | 1087 (40.0) | 3827 (51.1) | 1670 (45.8) | |
| Commercial or others | 535 (3.9) | 123 (4.5) | 245 (3.3) | 167 (4.6) | |
| None | 3669 (26.5) | 565 (20.8) | 1912 (25.5) | 1192 (32.7) | |
| Community Support, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Daily care | 532 (3.9) | 95 (3.5) | 272 (3.6) | 165 (4.5) | |
| Socializing | 661 (4.8) | 176 (6.5) | 326 (4.4) | 159 (4.4) | |
| Legal needs | 1868 (13.5) | 357 (13.2) | 1082 (14.5) | 429 (11.8) | |
| Daily care & socializing | 339 (2.5) | 68 (2.5) | 175 (2.3) | 96 (2.6) | |
| All above | 525 (3.8) | 120 (4.4) | 272 (3.6) | 133 (3.7) | |
| Don't know or none | 9895 (71.6) | 1887 (69.8) | 5349 (71.6) | 2659 (73.0) | |
| Live alone, n (%) | 2304 (16.6) | 400 (14.7) | 1461 (19.5) | 443 (12.2) | <0.001 |
| Low QoL, n (%) | 5642 (40.8) | 784 (28.9) | 3256 (43.5) | 1602 (44.0) | <0.001 |
| Transition of frailty*, n (%) | – | ||||
| Persistent robustness | – | 364 (20.1) | – | – | |
| Onset of prefrailty or frailty | – | 1121 (61.9) | – | – | |
| Progress from prefrailty to frailty | – | – | 722 (17.9) | – | |
| Reverse to robustness or prefrailty | – | – | 897 (22.2) | 387 (46.2) | |
| Persistent prefrailty/frailty | – | – | 1754 (43.5) | 417 (49.8) | |
| Mortality, n (%) | 7632 (65.7) | 1042 (45.5) | 3957 (62.0) | 2633 (89.3) | <0.001 |
| Follow‐up duration (month, median[quartile]) | 55 (25, 95) | 71 (42, 118) | 65 (30, 106) | 28 (14, 54) | <0.001 |
Abbreviations: NRCMS, New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme; QoL, quality of life; UBMI, Urban Basic Medical Insurance.
Note: *Rates of transition of frailty were calculated among the population having frailty data during the interviews in 2011, 2014, and 2018. The numbers of individuals with frailty data during follow‐up were as follows: robust 1812, prefrail 4035, frail 837.