ArticleGerontology2023
Is Frailty Different in Younger Adults Compared to Old? Prevalence, Characteristics, and Risk Factors of Early-Life and Late-Life Frailty in Samples from Sweden and UK.
Article in Gerontology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Large-scale genome-wide analyses with proteomics integration reveal novel loci and biological insights into frailty.Nature aging · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluation of the FI-Lab, a laboratory-based, automated frailty index for acute care: A multicohort study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Longitudinal dynamics of post-diagnosis frailty among older women with ovarian cancer.Gynecologic oncology · 2026Article
- Assessing stakeholder's perception and utilisation of frailty assessment in a vascular surgery setting - a national mixed methods study.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- Caring for the frail: a qualitative study in an orthopaedic setting.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Development and internal validation of a frailty prediction model in adults aged ≥ 45 years with obesity: evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Cross-lag association between TyG-CVAI and frailty index: evidence from a natural population cohort in southwestern China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Association of Physical Frailty and Genetic Predisposition with Risk of Irreversible Eye Diseases.Ophthalmology science · 2026Article
- Physical, Psychological, Cognitive and Social Frailty Domains in Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 45-85: a Cross-sectional Analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).Canadian geriatrics journal : CGJ · 2025Article
- The iceberg of frailty: underlying mechanisms beyond self-reported weight trajectories.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Emergency department attendance stratified by cause and frailty status: A national retrospective cohort study.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2025Article
- Mapping the Final Journey: End-Of-Life Frailty Trajectories and Cause of Death.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Review
- Innovative Chair and System Designs to Enhance Resistance Training Outcomes for the Elderly.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Relationship of SOD-1 Activity in Metabolic Syndrome and/or Frailty in Elderly Individuals.Metabolites · 2024Article
- Predicting Outcomes in Frail Older Community-Dwellers in Western Australia: Results from the Community Assessment of Risk Screening and Treatment Strategies (CARTS) Programme.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and Frailty: From Young to Superaged Coexisting HFpEF and Frailty.International journal of heart failure · 2024Review
- Validation of the Taiwan Cancer Frailty Tool for Screening and Prognosis in Non-older Patients With Cancer: A Prospective Multicenter Study.Cancer control : journal of the Moffitt Cancer CenterObservational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAlthough frailty is commonly considered as a syndrome of old individuals, recent studies show that it can affect younger adults, too. Whether and how frailty differs in younger adults compared to old is however unknown. To this end, we analyzed the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors of early-life (aged <65) and late-life (aged ≥65) frailty.
methodsWe analyzed individuals in the UK Biobank (N = 405,123) and Swedish Screening Across the Lifespan Twin (SALT; N = 43,641) study. Frailty index (FI) scores ≥0.21 were used to demarcate frailty. Characteristics of early-life versus late-life frailty were analyzed by collating the FI items (deficits) into domains and comparing the domain scores between younger and older frail individuals. Logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors of frailty.
resultsThe pooled prevalence rates of frailty were 10.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7-32.7), 14.4% (95% CI: 4.5-37.2), 19.2% (95% CI: 2.5-68.5) in individuals aged ≤55, 55-64, 65-74, respectively. Younger frail adults (aged <65) had higher scores in immunological, mental wellbeing, and pain-related domains, whereas older frail adults (aged ≥65) had higher scores in cardiometabolic, cancer, musculoskeletal, and sensory-related domains. Higher age, female sex, smoking, lower alcohol consumption, lower education, obesity, overweight, low income, and maternal smoking were similarly associated with the risk of early-life and late-life frailty.
conclusionFrailty is prevalent also in younger age groups (aged <65) but differs in some of its characteristics from the old. The risk factors of frailty are nevertheless largely similar for early-life and late-life frailty.
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