School of Nursing, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, China.
School of Public Health, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Jul 18;12:1424791. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1424791. eCollection 2024.
As China rapidly ages, it has now become a deeply aging society with the largest number of older individuals in the world. The issue is particularly severe in rural areas. With the aging population growing and the older population expanding, health problems are becoming more prevalent among older individuals, particularly frailty and cognitive impairments. This study aimed to identify the profiles of physical frailty, social frailty, and cognitive impairment among older adults and explore the influencing factors.
In this cross-sectional study, participants were recruited from six villages in four cities in Shandong Province, China from July to October 2023 through cluster random sampling. Latent profile analysis was used to determine the profiles of physical frailty, social frailty, and cognitive impairment. Chi-square tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for univariate analysis, while binary logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors.
Seven hundred and sixty-nine older adult care in rural areas showed two profiles: the "high cognitive function and low frailty" group (73.7%, = 567) and the "low cognitive function and high frailty" group (26.3%, = 202). A binary logistic regression found that older people were more likely to be aged 80 or older (OR = 2.253, = 0.029), have a low income level (OR = 1.051, = 0.007), have one or two (OR = 2.287, = 0.004), or more than three chronic diseases (OR = 3.092, = 0.002), and report moderate (OR = 3.406, = 0.024) or poor health status (OR = 9.085, < 0.001) in the "low cognitive function and high frailty" group. Meanwhile, older adults who have completed high school (OR = 0.428, = 0.005) or junior college and above (OR = 0.208, = 0.009), and engage in adequate physical activity (OR = 0.319, < 0.001) were more likely to be in the "high cognitive function and low frailty" group.
In the future, medical professors should increasingly prioritize promptly identifying and intervening in cognitive decline and frailty status in older individuals without delay.
随着中国的快速老龄化，中国已经成为世界上老年人口最多的深度老龄化社会。这一问题在农村地区尤为严重。随着人口老龄化和老年人口的增加，健康问题在老年人中越来越普遍，尤其是虚弱和认知障碍。本研究旨在确定农村老年人身体虚弱、社会虚弱和认知障碍的特征，并探讨其影响因素。
本横断面研究采用整群随机抽样的方法，于 2023 年 7 月至 10 月在山东省四个城市的六个村庄招募参与者。采用潜在剖面分析确定身体虚弱、社会虚弱和认知障碍的特征。采用卡方检验和曼-惠特尼 U 检验进行单因素分析，采用二项逻辑回归分析相关因素。
769 名农村老年人有两种特征：“高认知功能和低虚弱”组（73.7%，=567）和“低认知功能和高虚弱”组（26.3%，=202）。二项逻辑回归发现，老年人年龄 80 岁及以上（OR=2.253，=0.029）、收入水平低（OR=1.051，=0.007）、患有一两种（OR=2.287，=0.004）或三种以上慢性疾病（OR=3.092，=0.002）以及报告中等（OR=3.406，=0.024）或较差的健康状况（OR=9.085，<0.001）的老年人更有可能处于“低认知功能和高虚弱”组。同时，完成高中（OR=0.428，=0.005）或大专及以上（OR=0.208，=0.009）教育、进行足够的身体活动（OR=0.319，<0.001）的老年人更有可能处于“高认知功能和低虚弱”组。
未来，医学教授应更加重视及时识别和干预老年人的认知能力下降和虚弱状态。
