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The role of frailty on quality of life in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Abstract

Aim

The impact of frailty, a physiological state characterized by reduced reserve for stressors and related to worse outcomes, on older adults during the pandemic is unclear. Our aim was to identify the effects of frailty among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A total of 197 older adults who were not exposed to COVID-19 were assessed with an online survey one year after the pandemic began in Turkey. Frailty, quality of life, and fear of COVID-19 were assessed with the Tilburg Frailty Indicator, the Nottingham Health Profile, and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, respectively. Since March 2020, changes in pain severity and localization, fatigue, and fear of falling were assessed. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.

Results

In this study, 62.5% of the participants were frail. The prevalence of pain was significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only among the frail. The increases in pain severity, fear of falling, and fatigue were significantly higher for the frail than the non-frail. The model including physical and psychological components of frailty and pain severity explained 49% of the variation in quality of life (R = 0.696; R2 = 0.485; p < 0.001). The physical component of frailty had the highest impact on quality of life (B = 20.591; β = 0.334).

Conclusion

This study focused on negative outcomes that were experienced more by frail older adults compared to non-frail older adults when they were locked down at home for an extended period of time during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to quickly improve and maintain the health of these affected individuals.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Funding

This study did not receive financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Therapy and Rehabilitation, Vocational School of Health Services, Giresun University, Giresun, Turkey

    Ulku Kezban Sahin & Habibe Durdu

  2. Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

    Nurhayat Korkmaz

Authors
  1. Ulku Kezban Sahin
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  2. Habibe Durdu
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  3. Nurhayat Korkmaz
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Contributions

UKS: conceptualization, methodology, data collection, statistical analysis, writing, investigation. HD: data collection, writing, statistical analysis. NK: data collection, writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulku Kezban Sahin.

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The authors have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study design and all procedures in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Ethics Committee of Trabzon Kanuni Training and Research Hospital—2021/47), as well as the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its subsequent amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This article does not involve any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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All individual participants in the research gave their informed consent.

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Sahin, U.K., Durdu, H. & Korkmaz, N. The role of frailty on quality of life in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 1779–1787 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02469-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02469-w

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