We have published an article on trends in frailty and its association with mortality among older adults in the American Journal of Epidemiology, a leading journal in the field. In this study, we investigated trends in frailty and its relationship with mortality among older adults aged 64–84 years across a period of 21 years. We used data from 1995 to 2016 from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Using Generalized estimating equation analyses, we found that among older adults aged 64–84 years the 4-year mortality rate declined between 1995 and 2016, while the prevalence of frailty increased. Across all measurement waves, frailty was associated with 4-year mortality. There was no statistically significant interaction effect between frailty and time on 4-year mortality, indicating a stable association between frailty and mortality. So, the conclusion was that in more recent generations of older adults, frailty prevalence rates were higher, while excess mortality rates of frailty remained the same. This is important information for health policy-makers and clinical practitioners, showing that continued efforts are needed to reduce frailty and its negative health consequences.
The article is published in OPEN ACCESS, and can be downloaded for free. We thank Erwin Stolz (Graz, Austria) and Richard Oude Voshaar & Hans Jeuring (Groningen, the Netherlands) for collaborating with us on this project.
