• Chih-Ying Li, Soham Al Snih, Amol Karmarkar, Kyriakos S Markides, and Kenneth J Ottenbacher.
• Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, USA.
• Ann Epidemiol. 2018 Jun 1; 28 (6): 362-367.e3.

PurposeTo investigate the effect of early frailty transitions on 15-year mortality risk.MethodsLongitudinal data analysis of the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly involving 1171 community-dwelling Mexican Americans aged ≥67 years and older. Frailty was determined using the modified frailty phenotype, including unintentional weight loss, weakness, self-reported exhaustion, and slow walking speed. Participants were defined at baseline as nonfrail, prefrail, or frail and divided into nine transition groups, during a 3-year observation period.ResultsMean age was 77.0 years (standard deviation [SD] = 5.3) and 59.1% were female. Participants who transitioned from prefrail to frail (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23-2.28), frail to prefrail (HR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.05-2.28); or who remained frail (HR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.21-2.44), had significant higher 15-year mortality risk than those who remained nonfrail. Participants transitioning from frail to nonfrail had a similar 15-year mortality risk as those who remained nonfrail (HR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.53-1.72). Weight loss and slow walking speed were associated with transitions to frailty.ConclusionsAn early transition from frail to nonfrail in older Mexican Americans was associated with a 4% decrease in mortality compared with those who remained nonfrail, although this difference was not statistically significant. Additional longitudinal research is needed to understand positive transitions in frailty.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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