Relationship between the Kihon Checklist and all-cause hospitalization among community-dwelling older adults

To examine the relationship between the Kihon Checklist (KCL) and incidence of hospitalization among community-dwelling older adults.

We analyzed the cohort data of 2920 community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years, who were living independently in a city in Shiga prefecture. We investigated the frailty status, instrumental activities of daily living, physical function, nutritional status, oral function, homebound status, cognitive function and mood using the KCL in the baseline survey. The outcome was incident all-cause hospitalization in the 2-year period. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the relationships between the frailty status and each domain of the KCL as well as all-cause hospitalization.

The prevalence of frailty, pre-frailty and robustness were 29.7%, 34.5% and 35.8%, respectively. During the 2-year follow-up period, 417 participants (14.3%) underwent an incident of all-cause hospitalization. The participants with frailty (adjusted OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.05-1.81) had a significantly elevated incidence of hospitalization according to the multivariate analysis compared with patients with robustness, but not in participants with pre-frailty (adjusted OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.82-1.40). Participants with low physical function (adjusted OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.12-1.87) and depressed mood (adjusted OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.08-1.70) had a significantly elevated incidence of hospitalization according to multivariate analysis compared with non-risk.

These results suggest that older adults with frailty are more likely to be hospitalized and that the KCL may be the screening tool to estimate the hospitalization risk. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 132-137.