Table 2.
Prevalence of Frailty and Disability in Community-Dwelling Population, by Country and Age Category (weighted proportion and 95% confidence interval)
| 10 Countries | Sweden | Denmark | The Netherlands | Germany | Austria | Switzerland | France | Italy | Spain | Greece | |
| Age 50–64 y (n) | 9,074 | 1,038 | 877 | 1,261 | 1,146 | 849 | 470 | 803 | 958 | 733 | 939 |
| Frailty criteria | |||||||||||
| Exhaustion | 27.3 (25.8–29.9) | 31.6 (28.5–34.6) | 30.8 (27.6–34.1) | 23.6 (20.7–26.5) | 20.4 (17.3–23.6) | 20.5 (17.6–23.5) | 25.4 (21.3–29.4) | 30.0 (26.0–33.9) | 29.8 (25.7–34.0) | 38.4 (34.3–42.4) | 22.0 (19.2–24.8) |
| Shrinking | 5.2 (4.6–5.9) | 5.2 (3.7–6.7) | 5.9 (4.1–7.7) | 4.1 (2.3–6.0) | 3.4 (2.2–4.7) | 5.9 (4.2–7.6) | 5.2 (3.1–7.3) | 6.7 (5.0–8.4) | 4.4 (2.9–5.9) | 8.9 (6.7–11.0) | 4.2 (2.8–5.5) |
| Weakness | 6.1 (5.3–6.8) | 4.5 (3.1–5.9) | 3.1 (1.9–4.4) | 4.7 (3.6–5.8) | 3.9 (2.6–5.2) | 3.5 (2.2–4.7) | 2.5 (1.1–4.0) | 4.6 (3.0–6.3) | 7.2 (5.2–9.3) | 13.9 (11.1–16.6) | 5.7 (4.2–7.2) |
| Slowness | 6.7 (5.8–7.6) | 2.9 (1.8–4.0) | 5.5 (3.9–7.1) | 7.3 (5.5–9.1) | 5.9 (3.6–8.2) | 6.5 (4.5–8.5) | 3.9 (2.0–5.8) | 4.3 (2.7–5.9) | 8.8 (6.7–10.9) | 9.5 (7.0–11.9) | 8.6 (6.7–10.4) |
| Low activity | 13.8 (12.3–15.3) | 4.5 (3.1–5.8) | 6.3 (4.6–8.1) | 8.8 (6.7–10.8) | 9.6 (7.0–12.3) | 13.6 (10.7–16.5) | 11.2 (8.1–14.3) | 14.8 (12.1–17.5) | 24.7 (19.6–29.7) | 11.8 (8.8–14.7) | 10.9 (8.9–13.0) |
| Frailty status | |||||||||||
| Prefrailty | 37.4 (35.8–39.1) | 35.9 (32.8–39.1) | 34.9 (31.5–38.3) | 30.8 (27.1–34.5) | 30.9 (27.3–34.5) | 30.4 (26.7–34.2) | 36.1 (31.4–40.7) | 40.3 (36.6–44.0) | 43.5 (39.4–47.7) | 44.9 (40.7–49.0) | 33.5 (30.3–36.8) |
| Frailty | 4.1 (3.4–4.7) | 1.9 (1.1–2.8) | 3.0 (1.8–4.2) | 3.5 (2.4–4.7) | 2.6 (1.5–3.8) | 3.9 (2.6–5.2) | 1.3 (0.3–2.2) | 3.2 (1.9–4.5) | 5.9 (4.1–7.7) | 7.5 (5.5–9.5) | 2.8 (1.7–3.9) |
| Disability | |||||||||||
| BADL* difficulty | 4.5 (3.9–5.2) | 4.7 (3.3–6.1) | 5.8 (4.2–7.4) | 3.7 (2.4–5.0) | 4.3 (2.8–5.8) | 4.4 (2.8–6.1) | 3.4 (1.6–5.2) | 5.2 (3.5–6.9) | 3.9 (2.4–5.4) | 6.0 (4.1–8.0) | 2.6 (1.5–3.6) |
| Age 65+ y (n) | 7,510 | 873 | 635 | 830 | 933 | 707 | 412 | 687 | 833 | 816 | 784 |
| Frailty criteria | |||||||||||
| Exhaustion | 36.7 (34.7–38.7) | 39.1 (35.5–42.7) | 32.9 (29.0–36.8) | 28.9 (24.5–33.3) | 30.0 (25.5–34.4) | 27.6 (23.3–31.9) | 28.0 (23.6–32.5) | 36.4 (32.6–40.3) | 38.4 (33.3–43.6) | 54.5 (50.1–59.0) | 29.8 (26.5–33.1) |
| Shrinking | 11.1 (9.8–12.4) | 8.8 (6.7–10.9) | 8.4 (6.1–10.6) | 6.8 (5.2–8.4) | 8.0 (5.2–10.9) | 6.9 (4.7–9.1) | 5.0 (2.9–7.1) | 9.5 (7.1–11.9) | 13.4 (10.0–16.8) | 19.2 (15.9–22.5) | 10.8 (8.7–13.0) |
| Weakness | 26.3 (24.4–28.3) | 17.9 (15.0–20.7) | 16.9 (13.7–20.0) | 17.8 (14.2–21.4) | 15.1 (12.0–18.2) | 13.6 (10.4–16.8) | 16.7 (13.0–20.5) | 22.7 (19.2–26.2) | 38.1 (32.0–44.1) | 44.0 (39.8–48.2) | 27.3 (24.1–30.6) |
| Slowness | 22.7 (20.9–24.6) | 12.7 (10.2–15.2) | 19.5 (16.2–22.8) | 19.9 (16.7–23.0) | 18.7 (15.0–22.4) | 18.9 (14.7–23.1) | 10.3 (7.2–13.4) | 20.7 (17.1–24.3) | 28.1 (23.1–33.2) | 29.3 (25.2–33.4) | 27.6 (24.4–30.8) |
| Low activity | 21.3 (19.2–23.4) | 10.3 (8.0–12.5) | 14.1 (11.2–17.1) | 16.9 (13.5–20.3) | 15.7 (12.4–19.0) | 24.8 (19.1–30.5) | 15.5 (11.7–19.3) | 22.6 (19.0–26.2) | 30.1 (23.2–37.0) | 22.9 (19.1–26.7) | 17.3 (14.6–20.0) |
| Frailty status | |||||||||||
| Prefrailty | 42.3 (40.5–44.1) | 45.3 (41.8–48.9) | 38.4 (34.5–42.3) | 38.5 (34.4–42.7) | 34.6 (31.1–38.1) | 40.7 (36.5–45.0) | 46.5 (41.5–51.4) | 43.6 (39.6–47.6) | 45.6 (40.7–50.5) | 50.9 (46.8–55.1) | 44.9 (41.4–48.4) |
| Frailty | 17.0 (15.3–18.7) | 8.6 (6.5–10.8) | 12.4 (9.6–15.1) | 11.3 (9.0–13.5) | 12.1 (8.8–15.3) | 10.8 (8.0–13.5) | 5.8 (3.5–8.1) | 15.0 (12.2–17.8) | 23.0 (18.0–28.0) | 27.3 (23.5–31.0) | 14.7 (12.2–17.3) |
| Disability | |||||||||||
| BADL* difficulty | 13.5 (12.2–14.7) | 11.1 (8.7–13.5) | 11.8 (9.1–14.5) | 9.0 (7.1–10.9) | 11.4 (8.6–14.1) | 8.4 (6.1–10.7) | 9.9 (7.0–12.7) | 16.1 (13.1–19.2) | 16.2 (13.0–19.3) | 14.1 (11.0–17.2) | 9.5 (7.4–11.6) |
Note:*Basic activities of daily living: bathing or showering, dressing, eating, getting in and out of bed, using the toilet.