Frailty, loss of mental ability affect survival

Frail older people don’t live as long as their stronger peers, and loss of mental function further increases their risk of death, recent research shows.

The good news: Older people can live longer, healthier lives by maintaining their strength and cognitive abilities, Dr. Yunhwan Lee of Ajou University School of Medicine in Suwon, South Korea, and his colleagues report online in Maturitas.

“Frailty is a dynamic state, meaning that it is potentially reversible with proper care and management. Cognitive impairment, particularly in early stages, is also malleable,” Lee told Reuters Health in an email.

Frailty occurs when an aging person becomes less able to bounce back from stressors such as chronic illness or injury, Lee explained. “It places one at risk for falls, loss of independence, hospitalizations and death. A typical frail person appears weak, lacks energy, walks slowly and has low appetite, eventually losing weight without intending to,” he added.

While both frailty and cognitive impairment increase mortality risk, many people have both at once, and it’s unclear whether their effects are independent, the study team writes. They looked at data from a 2008 Korean study on 11,266 men and women age 65 or older.

Cognitive impairment also increased mortality risk by 30 percent overall. The relationship between frailty and mortality was strongest in cognitively impaired study participants, suggesting that cognitive problems might exacerbate the risks of frailty.