Examining frailty phenotypes of community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan using the falls risk for older people in the community - Taiwan version (Tw-FROP-Com).

Abstract

Background: Falls are the second leading cause of accidental injury-related deaths among Taiwanese adults aged 65 and older. This study examined the association between Fried frailty phenotypes and fall risk in this population.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Keelung City with 375 participants from an Elderly Fall Prevention Program. Frailty was assessed using the modified Fried criteria: weakness, slowness, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintentional weight loss. Participants with 0-2 criteria were classified as non-frail, and those with 3 or more as frail. Fall risk was evaluated using the Taiwan version of the Falls Risk for Older People in the Community (Tw-FROP-Com), a 28-item tool scoring 0-60 across 13 risk factors.

Results: Participants had a mean age of 75.4 ± 6.8 years; 76.0% were female, 18.7% were frail, and 32.7% had fallen in the past year. Those with a fall history had higher rates of weakness (56.7%), slowness (49.6%), and frailty (26.1%). Regression analysis showed that weakness (β = 0.64), slowness (β = 0.21), exhaustion (β = 1.28), unintentional weight loss (β = 3.99), and low physical activity (β = 0.88) were significantly associated with increased fall risk. Frailty explained over 50% of fall risk variance, with unintentional weight loss as the strongest predictor.

Conclusion: Unintentional weight loss is the most significant predictor of fall risk among frailty traits. Individual frailty components better predict fall risk than composite frailty measures.