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Frailty Assessment in an Aging Mouse Model
Published on: September 23, 2025
205
Changes in a Frailty Index and Association with Mortality
Sandra M Shi1,2, Brianne Olivieri-Mui1, Ellen P McCarthy1,2
1Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging, Hebrew Senior Life, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
|December 30, 2020
Summary
Increasing frailty over one year significantly elevates mortality risk in older adults. However, improvements in frailty did not show a significant reduction in mortality risk.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Public Health
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Frailty status is dynamic and can change over time.
- The predictive value of frailty improvement on mortality is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine 1-year changes in a frailty index (FI).
- To assess the association between frailty changes and 48-month mortality.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of the National Health in Aging Trends Study (NHATS).
- Utilized a 40-item deficit accumulation frailty index (FI) measured in 2011 and 2012.
- Employed Cox regression to analyze the association between FI change and 4-year mortality.
Main Results:
- Mean FI increased by 0.02 from 2011 to 2012, with 58.6% of participants experiencing an increase.
- Increases in FI were significantly associated with higher mortality risk across pre-frail, mild, and moderate-to-severe frailty categories.
- Decreases in FI were not significantly associated with reduced mortality risk.
Conclusions:
- An increasing frailty index over one year is linked to elevated mortality risk in older adults.
- While frailty can decrease, this study found no evidence that frailty improvement predicts reduced mortality.
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