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Explaining quality of life of older people in the Netherlands using a multidimensional assessment of frailty

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Abstract

Purpose

Although frailty was originally a medical concept, nowadays more and more researchers are convinced of its multidimensional nature, including a psychological and social domain of frailty as well as a physical domain. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the prediction of quality of life by physical frailty components is improved by adding psychological and social frailty components.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of Dutch citizens. A total of 1,031 people aged 65 years and older completed a Web-based questionnaire containing the Tilburg Frailty Indicator for measuring physical, psychological, and social frailty, and the WHOQOL-BREF for measuring four quality of life domains (physical health, psychological, social relations, environmental).

Results

The findings show that the prediction of all quality of life domains by eight physical components of frailty was improved after adding four psychological and three social frailty components. The psychological frailty component ‘feeling down’ significantly improved the prediction of all four quality of life domains, after controlling for the effects of background characteristics and all other frailty components.

Conclusion

This study emphasizes the importance of a multidimensional assessment of frailty in the prediction of quality of life in older people.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank René Schalk for collecting and making available the data.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, PO Box 25035, 3001 HA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Robbert J. J. Gobbens

  2. Department of Tranzo, Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Robbert J. J. Gobbens & Katrien G. Luijkx

  3. Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Marcel A. L. M. van Assen

Authors
  1. Robbert J. J. Gobbens
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  2. Katrien G. Luijkx
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  3. Marcel A. L. M. van Assen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robbert J. J. Gobbens.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), Part B (25)
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Gobbens, R.J.J., Luijkx, K.G. & van Assen, M.A.L.M. Explaining quality of life of older people in the Netherlands using a multidimensional assessment of frailty. Qual Life Res 22, 2051–2061 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-012-0341-1

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