Associations between socio-economic, demographic, and anthropometric factors and physical frailty in outpatient patients aged 65 and older: data from the Russian EVKALIPT Study

Background: Currently, the number of elderly and senile patients is steadily increasing. Physical frailty significantly worsens prognosis in this population, making the evaluation of its relationship with socio-economic, demographic, and anthropometric factors a pertinent area of study.

Aim: To examine the associations between socio-economic, demographic, and anthropometric factors and physical frailty in outpatient patients aged 65 and older.

Materials and methods: A sub-analysis of the EVKALIPT study included 2,553 outpatient patients aged 65 and older (mean age 76.9 years, 32.2% men). Participants were divided into three age subgroups: 65–74 years, 75–84 years, and 85 years and older. A two-stage comprehensive geriatric assessment was conducted: the first stage involved a questionnaire on socio-economic status, and the second stage involved an objective examination using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Physical frailty was defined based on SPPB results as follows: 10–12 points indicated no frailty (“robust” patients), 8–9 points indicated pre-frailty (“pre-frail” patients), and ≤ 7 points indicated physical frailty.

Results: Total SPPB scores ranged from 0 to 12 (median 7, interquartile range 4–9), with the prevalence of physical frailty at 58%. Patients with physical frailty had poorer socio-economic status. Multivariate regression analysis identified eight independent factors associated with physical frailty: age (per year), female sex, absence of a partner, disability, educational level as an ordinal variable (1 to 6, where 1 is no education and 6 is a doctoral degree), past blood donation, continued employment, and material resources as an ordinal variable (1 to 3, where 1 is low and 3 is high).

Conclusions: In outpatient patients aged 65 and older, physical frailty is associated with socio-economic, demographic, and anthropometric factors. High levels of education, past blood donation, continued employment, and high material resources were found to have a protective effect against physical frailty.