Frailty Indexed Classification of Bangladeshi Older Adults' Physio-psychosocial Health and Associated Risk Factors: A Cross-sectional Survey Study

Abstract Background: Frailty is associated with healthy ageing, and it has been identified as a means of measuring older adults’ physio-psychosocial health. This is true that we know about the ageing trends and common diseases of older adults living in low- and lower-middle-income countries, but literature to date does not widely feature their health status based on frailty. This study aims to understand the prevalence of frailty in Bangladeshi older adults; classify their health status; and investigate associated risk factors.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in north-eastern region [i.e. Sylhet City Corporation] of Bangladesh. Four hundred participants aged 55 years and over were randomly selected who are ageing-in-place in the community. These participants attended in a person-centered health assessment session and completed a multi-indicator survey questionnaire. We used a 30-indicators Frailty Index to categorize their health status into: good health [no-frail]; slightly poor health [least frail]; poor health [moderately frail]; and very poor health [frailest]. A chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were conducted.Results: The participants’ mean age was 63.6 years, and 74% of them were assessed in poor to very poor health [(moderately frail/65% - frailest/9%). The age, marital status, occupation and religion of the participants were significantly associated with frailty. The oldest aged, female, illiterate and Muslim participants were found frailer than their counterparts. Participants aged 70 years and above were 3.18 times more likely to experience frailty [medical conditions] than the pre-elderly age group (55-59 years) and female participants were 1.8 times more vulnerable to medical conditions than male. Also, the older adults living alone and staying at home without regular job were at higher risk of frailty [poor health] than others.Conclusions: Our study results confirm the prevalence of frailty-related disorders in Bangladeshi older adults and highlight the importance of targeted clinical and community-led preventive care programs.