• Claudia Troncoso-Pantoja, Yeny Concha-Cisternas, Ana María Leiva-Ordoñez, María Adela Martínez-Sanguinetti, Fanny Petermann-Rocha, Ximena Díaz-Martínez, Miquel Martorell, Gabriela Nazar, Natalia Ulloa, Igor Cigarroa-Cuevas, Cecilia Albala, Carlos Márquez, Lydia Lera, and Carlos Celis-Morales.
• Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, CIEDE-UCSC, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2020 Oct 1; 148 (10): 1418-1426.

BackgroundThe assessment of frailty among older people could help to reduce its social and health burden.AimTo determine and characterize the prevalence of frailty in Chilean older adults.Material And MethodsWe 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).ResultsThe 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.ConclusionsThe prevalence of frailty increased markedly with age. It is important to implement prevention strategies to allow an early identification of high-risk individuals.

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