TY - JOUR
T1 - Frailty and risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 infection among older adults
T2 - evidence from the Dutch Lifelines COVID-19 Cohort study
AU - Lifelines Corona Res Initiative
AU - Zhu, Yinjie
AU - Sealy, Martine J.
AU - Jager-Wittenaar, Harriet
AU - Mierau, Jochen O.
AU - Bakker, Stephan J. L.
AU - Navis, Gerjan J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the services of the Lifelines Cohort study, the contributing research centres delivering data to Lifelines, and all the study participants. We would also like to acknowledge the support and opportunity provided by EIT Health Ageing PhD School. Lifelines Corona Research Initiative : H. Marike Boezen, Jochen O. Mierau, H. Lude Franke, Jackie Dekens, Patrick Deelen, Pauline Lanting, Judith M. Vonk, Ilja Nolte, Anil P. S. Ori, Annique Claringbould, Floranne Boulogne, Marjolein X. L. Dijkema, Henry H. Wiersma, Robert Warmerdam, Soesma A. Jankipersadsing, Irene van Blokland, Geertruida H. de Bock, Judith GM Rosmalen, Cisca Wijmenga.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/11/16
Y1 - 2022/11/16
N2 - Background Frailty is associated with COVID-19 severity in clinical settings. No general population-based studies on the association between actual frailty status and COVID-19 hospitalization are available. Aims To investigate the association between frailty and the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization once infected. Methods 440 older adults who participated in the Lifelines COVID-19 Cohort study in the Northern Netherlands and reported positive COVID-19 testing results (54.2% women, age 70 +/- 4 years in 2021) were included in the analyses. COVID-19 hospitalization status was self-reported. The Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) was derived from 15 self-reported questionnaire items related to daily activities, health problems, and psychosocial functioning, with a score >= 4 indicating frailty. Both frailty and COVID-19 hospitalization were assessed in the same period. Poisson regression models with robust standard errors were used to analyze the associations between frailty and COVID-19 hospitalization. Results Of 440 older adults included, 42 were hospitalized because of COVID-19 infection. After adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization was observed for frail individuals (risk ratio (RR) [95% CI] 1.97 [1.06-3.67]) compared to those classified as non-frail. Discussion Frailty was positively associated with COVID-19 hospitalization once infected, independent of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Future research on frailty and COVID-19 should consider biomarkers of aging and frailty to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms and manifestations between frailty and COVID-19 outcomes. Conclusions Frailty was positively associated with the risk of hospitalization among older adults that were infected with COVID-19. Public health strategies for frailty prevention in older adults need to be advocated, as it is helpful to reduce the burden of the healthcare system, particularly during a pandemic like COVID-19.
AB - Background Frailty is associated with COVID-19 severity in clinical settings. No general population-based studies on the association between actual frailty status and COVID-19 hospitalization are available. Aims To investigate the association between frailty and the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization once infected. Methods 440 older adults who participated in the Lifelines COVID-19 Cohort study in the Northern Netherlands and reported positive COVID-19 testing results (54.2% women, age 70 +/- 4 years in 2021) were included in the analyses. COVID-19 hospitalization status was self-reported. The Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) was derived from 15 self-reported questionnaire items related to daily activities, health problems, and psychosocial functioning, with a score >= 4 indicating frailty. Both frailty and COVID-19 hospitalization were assessed in the same period. Poisson regression models with robust standard errors were used to analyze the associations between frailty and COVID-19 hospitalization. Results Of 440 older adults included, 42 were hospitalized because of COVID-19 infection. After adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization was observed for frail individuals (risk ratio (RR) [95% CI] 1.97 [1.06-3.67]) compared to those classified as non-frail. Discussion Frailty was positively associated with COVID-19 hospitalization once infected, independent of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Future research on frailty and COVID-19 should consider biomarkers of aging and frailty to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms and manifestations between frailty and COVID-19 outcomes. Conclusions Frailty was positively associated with the risk of hospitalization among older adults that were infected with COVID-19. Public health strategies for frailty prevention in older adults need to be advocated, as it is helpful to reduce the burden of the healthcare system, particularly during a pandemic like COVID-19.
KW - Frailty
KW - Groningen Frailty Indicator
KW - COVID-19
KW - Coronavirus
KW - DEFINITION
KW - REGRESSION
KW - INDICATOR
KW - VALIDITY
U2 - 10.1007/s40520-022-02268-9
DO - 10.1007/s40520-022-02268-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 36244048
SN - 1594-0667
VL - 34
SP - 2693
EP - 2702
JO - Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
JF - Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
IS - 11
ER -