Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Northumbria Healthcare National Health Service Foundation Trust, North Tyneside General Hospital, North Shields, United Kingdom.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018 Aug;66(8):1484-1490. doi: 10.1111/jgs.15433. Epub 2018 Jun 13.
To investigate the prevalence of frailty using a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) in older community-dwelling adults living in rural northern Tanzania.
Cross-sectional survey.
Five randomly selected villages in Hai District, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.
All adults aged 60 and older living in the selected villages were eligible to participate, including older adults with cognitive impairment provided a close relative was able to assent on their behalf. All participants were community dwelling because institutionalization is very rare.
Participants were screened using a short frailty screening tool, the Brief Frailty Instrument for Tanzania (B-FIT), comprising an abbreviated test of cognitive function and the Barthel Index, which assesses functional independence. Based on B-FIT score, a frailty-weighted, stratified sample was selected for in-depth assessment using CGA and characterized as frail or not frail.
Two hundred thirty-six CGAs were performed in 1,207 people screened, 91 of whom were deemed frail. After adjusting for stratification, the prevalence of frailty was 19.1% (95% confidence interval=15.2-23.1).
This is the first study in sub-Saharan Africa to report the prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older adults according to a CGA. The strengths of reporting frailty according to a CGA include the ability to consider likely medical diagnoses based on clinical assessment and to assess individuals' social circumstances and environment.
使用综合老年评估（CGA）调查坦桑尼亚北部农村地区社区居住的老年成年人虚弱的流行情况。
横断面调查。
坦桑尼亚乞力马扎罗地区 Hai 区的五个随机选定的村庄。
所有年龄在 60 岁及以上居住在选定村庄的成年人都有资格参加，包括有认知障碍的老年人，如果他们的近亲能够代表他们同意，则也包括在内。所有参与者都居住在社区，因为机构化非常罕见。
使用简短的虚弱筛查工具，即坦桑尼亚简短虚弱工具（B-FIT）对参与者进行筛查，该工具包括认知功能的简短测试和评估功能独立性的巴氏量表。根据 B-FIT 评分，对虚弱加权、分层的样本进行了 CGA 的深入评估，并根据是否虚弱进行了特征描述。
对 1207 名接受筛查的人中进行了 236 次 CGA，其中 91 人被认为虚弱。在调整分层后，虚弱的患病率为 19.1%（95%置信区间=15.2-23.1）。
这是撒哈拉以南非洲地区第一项根据 CGA 报告社区居住的老年成年人虚弱流行情况的研究。根据 CGA 报告虚弱的优势包括能够根据临床评估考虑可能的医学诊断，并评估个人的社会环境和环境。
