Frailty syndrome in the community-dwelling elderly with osteoarthritis

To characterize and compare community-dwelling elderly with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis (OA), focusing on the frailty syndrome.

Cross-sectional study of the elderly with knee and/or hip OA, using a subsample from the study of frailty in the Brazilian elderly (FIBRA), assessing the following: sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidity, medications, depression, anthropomorphic data, falls, pain, stiffness, physical function, and frailty. The subjective assessment of health was also performed.

The final sample comprised 58 elderly (mean age, 74 ± 5.5 years) as follows: 17 (29.31%) non-frail, 28 (48.28%) pre-frail, and 13 (22.41%) frail. The frail elderly received more medications than the non-frail ones (7.00 ± 2.00 and 4.00 ± 2.00, respectively; P = 0.001). The mean Body Mass Index was lower in the non-frail elderly as compared with those of the pre-frail and frail ones (27.00 ± 4.50 kg/m², 30.00 ± 4.00 kg/m², and 34.00 ± 8.00 kg/m², respectively; P = 0.018). Depression was more prevalent in the frail group. Compared to the previous year, there was a difference in the health status of the groups as follows: 64.3% of the pre-frail elderly and 46.2% of the frail ones believed their health deteriorated, and 52.9% of the non-frail elderly considered that their health status remained unchanged (P = 0.016). When comparing the current physical activity levels with those of the previous year, the pre-frail and frail elderly reported a worsening (P = 0.010). Regarding physical function and fall-related self-efficacy, the frail elderly were worse than the others (P = 0.023 and 0.017, respectively). There were no significant differences between the groups for the remaining items analyzed.

The elderly with OA and frailty use more medications, are more obese and depressed, have a poorer perception of their own health and of their level of activity as compared with that of the previous year, have a worse fall-related self-efficacy, and worse physical function.