Home modification and prevention of frailty progression in older adults: a Japanese prospective cohort study

The aim of this study was to determine whether home modification was associated with subsequent progression of frailty and mortality in older adults. We conducted a prospective cohort study in 574 adults 65 and older who required a low or moderate level of care. Of these, 34% modified their homes-most frequently a corridor-and the most common type of modification was the installation of handrails. The mortality was significantly lower among older adults with home modifications than in those without home modifications at 2 years (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.32, 0.87]), 3 years (HR = 0.57, 95% CI [0.54, 0.81]), and 4.7 years (HR = 0.65, 95% CI [0.65, 0.91]). These findings suggest that home modification may prevent the progression of frailty (i.e., need for low/moderate level of care increasing to the need for high level of care) in older adults.