Prevalence of Frailty and Its Association with Information and Communication Technologies Use among Older Adults

Abstract

Frailty phenotype (FP) refers to a clinical syndrome characterized by a lack of effective response to stressors due to a decline in physiological reserve. The presence of FP is associated with negative outcomes in elders, like disability. Information and communication technology (ICT) is defined as a unit of technology that an individual can use to produce, store, and communicate information, e.g., mobile phones (MP) and internet browsing. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ICT’s use and its associations with frailty in older adults attending geriatric clinics at a university-affiliated hospital in Mexico. It is a cross-sectional study of participating older adults, recruited during September 2016 through September 2017. Participants underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in order to obtain the diagnosis of frailty. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to establish the association between frailty and information and communication technologies (ICT’s) use. We included 123 subjects; mean age was 80 (SD±8). Overall, 51% were frail. After the adjusted logistic regression, analyses showed a negative association between frailty, sending SMS and social network use (P<0.05). This study shows frailty prevalence is high in the studied population of older adults. After adjustment, participants with frailty were 80% less likely to send Short Message Service (SMS) using mobile phones and to be social network users. Frailty could have a negative influence on the regular use of some technologies and the regular evaluation through Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) can promote positive changes and prevent functional decline.

Keywords: Frailty, geriatric syndrome, information and communication technology, internet, mobile phone

Cite this Article

Díaz-Ramos JA, Avelar-González AK, Leal-Mora D et al. Prevalence of Frailty and Its Association with Information and Communication Technologies Use among Older Adults. Research & Reviews: Journal of Medical Science and Technology. 2018; 7(2): 40–48p.