Table 1.
Demographic characteristics, perceived health and healthcare use according to the three frailty stages
| All | Non-frail | Pre-frail | Frail | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 8684 | n = 5488 (63.2 %) | n = 2441 (28.1 %) | n = 755 (8.7 %) | |||
| Age (yrs.) (mean ± SD) | 74.2 (±6.4) | 72.9 (±5.9) | 75.9 (±6.5) | 78.2 (±6.8) | <0.001 | |
| Age groups | 65-74 | 4510 (51.9 %) | 3314 (60.4 %) | 985 (40.4 %) | 211 (27.9 %) | <0.001 |
| 75-84 | 3597 (41.4 %) | 1979 (36.1 %) | 1215 (49.8 %) | 403 (53.4 %) | ||
| 85+ | 577 (6.6 %) | 195 (3.6 %) | 241 (9.9 %) | 141 (18.7 %) | ||
| Gender (male) | 4619 (53.2 %) | 3366 (61.3 %) | 999 (40.9 %) | 254 (33.6 %) | <0.001 | |
| Marital status | married/living together | 5837 (68.8 %) | 4056 (75.2 %) | 1422 (60.2 %) | 359 (48.9 %) | <0.001 |
| unmarried/divorced | 721 (8.5 %) | 392 (7.3 %) | 231 (9.8 %) | 98 (13.4 %) | ||
| widowed | 1931 (22.7 %) | 943 (17.5 %) | 711 (30.1 %) | 277 (37.7 %) | ||
| Level of education | low | 4903 (58.6 %) | 2796 (52.2 %) | 1554 (67.4 %) | 553 (78.8 %) | <0.001 |
| medium | 1783 (21.3 %) | 1254 (23.4 %) | 415 (18.0 %) | 114 (16.2 %) | ||
| high | 1681 (20.1 %) | 1309 (24.4 %) | 337 (14.6 %) | 35 (5.0 %) | ||
| Perceived health and healthcare use | ||||||
| Perceived health (%) | very good | 7.3 | 10.5 | 2.2 | 0.1 | <0.001 |
| good | 50.9 | 64.4 | 33.8 | 6.1 | ||
| fair | 35.6 | 24.4 | 55.5 | 53.9 | ||
| poor | 5.6 | 0.7 | 8.1 | 34.1 | ||
| very poor | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 5.8 | ||
| Healthcare use (past 12 months) (%) | general practitioner <2 months | 50.9 | 43.3 | 61.3 | 74.3 | <0.001 |
| medical specialist | 64.2 | 57.3 | 73.9 | 83.5 | <0.001 | |
| dietician | 9.6 | 6.9 | 13.1 | 19.3 | <0.001 | |
| occupational therapist | 4.1 | 1.7 | 6.2 | 16.8 | <0.001 | |
| physiotherapist | 35.7 | 29.2 | 45.4 | 53.0 | <0.001 | |
| homecare (nursing care and household care) | 19.1 | 6.4 | 31.9 | 68.1 | <0.001 | |
| social work | 2.4 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 9.4 | <0.001 | |