Prevalencia de fragilidad en personas mayores de Chile: resultados de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud 2016-2017

BACKGROUND The assessment of frailty among older people could help to reduce its social and health burden. AIM To determine and characterize the prevalence of frailty in Chilean older adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS We studied 233 participants, aged > 60 years, participating in the Chilean National Health Survey 2016-2017. Frailty was assessed using modified Fried criteria. Thus, people classified as frail should meet at least 3 out of the 5 criteria (low strength, low physical activity, low body mass index, slow walking pace and tiredness). RESULTS The prevalence of frailty was 10.9% (7.7% for men and 14.1% for women). The prevalence of pre-frailty was 59.0% whereas 30.1% of participants were classified as robust. At the age of 80 years 58 and 62% of men and women were frail, respectively. These figures increased to 90 and 87% at the age of 90 years. The prevalence of pre-frailty increased from 43 to 92.1% among men and from 76% and 78% among women from the ages of 60 to 90 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of frailty increased markedly with age. It is important to implement prevention strategies to allow an early identification of high-risk individuals.