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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1499099

Association of Frailty with Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Insights from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Provisionally accepted
Hui Gao Hui Gao 1*Jiahai Li Jiahai Li 2Qiaoli Ma Qiaoli Ma 3Qinghui Zhang Qinghui Zhang 4
  • 1 First People's Hospital of Shangqiu, Shangqiu, China
  • 2 Qinzhou First People's Hospital, Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
  • 3 Zibo Central Hospital, Shandong, China
  • 4 Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Previous studies suggest that frailty increases the risk of mortality, but the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in Chinese community-dwelling older adults remains understudied. Our aim was to explore the effect of frailty on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in older adults based on a large-scale prospective survey of community-dwelling older adults in China. Methods: We utilized the 2014 to 2018 cohort of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey and constructed a frailty index (FI) to assess frailty status. Propensity score matching was used to equalize the baseline characteristics of participants to strengthen the reliability of the findings. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI were estimated using multivariate Cox models adjusting for potential confounders to assess the association between frailty and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. The relationship between frailty and cardiovascular mortality was further explored using a competing risk model considering death as a competing event. The dose-response relationships between them were estimated using restricted cubic spline models. Results: The results of multivariate Cox model found a higher 1.94 (95% CI: 1.43 -2.63) risk of CVD mortality and a higher 1.87 (95% CI: 1.63 -2.14) risk of all-cause mortality in the frailty group, compared with the non-frailty group. The multivariate competing risks model suggested a higher 1.94 (95% CI: 1.48 -2.53) risk of CVD mortality in the frailty group. There was no nonlinear relationship between FI and the risk of CVD mortality, but a nonlinear dose-response relationship with the risk of allcause mortality. Conclusions: The frail older adults had a stronger risk of CVD and all-cause mortality.Reversing the frailty of older adults is therefore expected to reduce the risk of death in older adults.

    Keywords: Chinese older adults, Frailty, Cardiovascular disease mortality, All-cause mortality, Geriatric epidemiology, competing risk

    Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gao, Li, Ma and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hui Gao, First People's Hospital of Shangqiu, Shangqiu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.