Table 2. Association of education level with overall frailty and with its six components (Model 1) and change in association of education level with the five other frailty components after adjustment for the morbidities component (Model 2); stratified by age group among 26,014 persons of The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimum DataSet (TOPICS-MDS).
| Overall Frailty | Morbidities | ADL limitations | IADL limitations | Psychosocial health | Health-related quality of life | Self-rated health | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B (95% CI) | B (95% CI) | B (95% CI) | %† | B (95% CI) | %† | B (95% CI) | %† | B (95% CI) | %† | B (95% CI) | %† | |
| Model 1 | ||||||||||||
| Age 55–69 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | 0.016** | 0.019*** | 0.007 | 0.005 | 0.016 | 0.020* | 0.028** | |||||
| (0.005–0.026) | (0.008–0.030) | (-0.008–0.022) | (-0.013–0.023) | (-0.003–0.036) | (0.003–0.038) | (0.011–0.046) | ||||||
| ≤ Primary education | 0.047*** | 0.052*** | 0.013 | 0.034** | 0.074*** | 0.056*** | 0.064*** | |||||
| (0.035–0.059) | (0.039–0.064) | (-0.005–0.030) | (0.013–0.055) | (0.051–0.096) | (0.036–0.076) | (0.044–0.085) | ||||||
| Age 70–79 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | 0.007* | 0.008** | -0.002 | 0.011* | 0.006 | 0.005 | 0.016*** | |||||
| (0.001–0.013) | (0.002–0.014) | (-0.010–0.007) | (0.000–0.021) | (-0.003–0.015) | (-0.004–0.014) | (0.007–0.025) | ||||||
| ≤ Primary education | 0.027*** | 0.022*** | 0.010* | 0.039*** | 0.034*** | 0.029*** | 0.043*** | |||||
| (0.021–0.033) | (0.015–0.028) | (0.000–0.019) | (0.028–0.051) | (0.024–0.044) | (0.019–0.038) | (0.033–0.053) | ||||||
| Age ≥ 80 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | 0.015*** | 0.012** | 0.001 | 0.019* | 0.022*** | 0.018** | 0.014* | |||||
| (0.006–0.024) | (0.003–0.021) | (-0.014–0.016) | (0.001–0.036) | (0.009–0.035) | (0.005–0.031) | (0.001–0.026) | ||||||
| ≤ Primary education | 0.026*** | 0.019*** | 0.012 | 0.044*** | 0.026*** | 0.033*** | 0.022*** | |||||
| (0.017–0.036) | (0.009–0.028) | (-0.003–0.028) | (0.026–0.063) | (0.012–0.040) | (0.019–0.046) | (0.007–0.035) | ||||||
| Model 2 | ||||||||||||
| Age 55–69 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | NA | NA | 0.001 | NA | -0.003 | NA | 0.003 | NA | 0.009 | 55% | 0.017* | 39% |
| (-0.014–0.16) | (-0.021–0.014) | (-0.015–0.022) | (-0.007–0.025) | (0.001–0.034) | ||||||||
| ≤ Primary education | NA | NA | -0.003 | NA | 0.014 | 59% | 0.040*** | 46% | 0.026** | 54% | 0.036*** | 44% |
| (-0.021–0.014) | (-0.007–0.034) | (0.019–0.062) | (0.007–0.044) | (0.016–0.056) | ||||||||
| Age 70–79 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | NA | NA | -0.005 | NA | 0.006 | 45% | 0.002 | NA | 0.001 | NA | 0.013** | 9% |
| (-0.014–0.004) | (-0.004–0.016) | (-0.007–0.011) | (-0.007–0.008) | (0.004–0.021) | ||||||||
| ≤ Primary education | NA | NA | 0.002 | 80% | 0.028*** | 28% | 0.024*** | 29% | 0.016*** | 45% | 0.032*** | 26% |
| (-0.008–0.011) | (0.017–0.039) | (0.014–0.034) | (0.007–0.025) | (0.023–0.042) | ||||||||
| Age ≥ 80 years | ||||||||||||
| Secondary education | NA | NA | -0.005 | NA | 0.011 | 42% | 0.016** | 27% | 0.010 | 44% | 0.008 | 43% |
| (-0.020–0.010) | (-0.006–0.028) | (0.003–0.028) | (-0.002–0.022) | (-0.004–0.020) | ||||||||
| ≤ Primary education | NA | NA | 0.003 | NA | 0.032*** | 27% | 0.017** | 35% | 0.021*** | 36% | 0.013* | 41% |
| (-0.012–0.019) | (0.015–0.050) | (0.003–0.030) | (0.008–0.033) | (0.001–0.025) | ||||||||
Values are derived from multilevel multivariable linear regression, tertiary education is the reference group. Model 1 is adjusted for confounders: age, sex, and living arrangement (alone/not alone). Model 2 is additionally adjusted for morbidities.
* p<0.05;
** p<0.01;
*** p<0.001.
† % represents the % change in effect estimates relative to model 1 after adjustment for morbidities; this was calculated by: 100x ((Bmodel1-Bmodel2)/Bmodel1). B = effect estimate; CI = confidence interval; (I)ADL = (instrumental) activities of daily living