Soham Al Snih, James E. Graham, Laura A. Ray, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Kyriakos S. Markides, Kenneth J. Ottenbacher
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-0424

Objective: To examine the association between frailty status and incidence of disability among non-disabled older Mexican Americans.
Design: A 10-year prospective cohort study.
Subjects: A total of 1645 non-institutionalized Mexican Americans aged 67 years and older from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), who reported no limitation in activities of daily living at baseline.
Methods: Frailty was defined as meeting 3 or more of the following components: (i) unintentional weight loss of > 2. 26 kg; (ii) weakness (lowest 20% in hand grip strength); (iii) self-reported exhaustion; (iv) slow walking speed; and (v) low physical activity level. Socio-demographic factors, Mini Mental State Examination, medical conditions, body mass index, and self-reported activities of daily living were obtained.
Results: Of the 1645 non-disabled subjects at baseline, 820 (50%) were not frail, 749 (45. 7%) were pre-frail, and 71 (4. 3%) were frail. The hazard ratio of activities of daily living disability at 10-year follow-up for pre-frail subjects was 1. 32 (95% confidence interval 1. 10–1. 58) and 2. 42 (95% confidence interval 70–3. 46) for frail subjects compared with not frail subjects. This association remained statistically significant after controlling for potential confounding factors at baseline.
Conclusion: Pre-frail and frail status in older Mexican Americans was associated with an increased risk of activities of daily living disability over a 10-year period among non-disabled subjects.