A correspondence analysis revealed frailty deficits aggregate and are multidimensional

Sourial, Nadia; Wolfson, Christina; Bergman, Howard; Zhu, Bin; Karunananthan, Sathya; Quail, Jacqueline; Fletcher, John; Weiss, Deborah; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; Béland, François

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.08.007

« Previous Next »Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume 63, Issue 6 , Pages 647-654, June 2010

A correspondence analysis revealed frailty deficits aggregate and are multidimensional

Nadia Sourial
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Nadia Sourial, Christina Wolfson, and Howard Bergman contributed equally to the design and conduct of the study and to the preparation of the article.
Christina Wolfson
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Centre, 1025 Pine Avenue West, Suite P2.028, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Nadia Sourial, Christina Wolfson, and Howard Bergman contributed equally to the design and conduct of the study and to the preparation of the article.
- Corresponding author. Tel.: 514-934-1934 ext. 44739; fax: 514-934-4458.
Howard Bergman
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Division of Geriatric Medicine, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Cote-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Health Administration, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Nadia Sourial, Christina Wolfson, and Howard Bergman contributed equally to the design and conduct of the study and to the preparation of the article.
Bin Zhu
- Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Centre, 1025 Pine Avenue West, Suite P2.028, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Sathya Karunananthan
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Jacqueline Quail
- Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Centre, 1025 Pine Avenue West, Suite P2.028, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
John Fletcher
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Deborah Weiss
- Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Centre, 1025 Pine Avenue West, Suite P2.028, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Karen Bandeen-Roche
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
François Béland
- Solidage Research Group, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Division of Geriatric Medicine, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Cote-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Health Administration, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Accepted 6 August 2009. published online 02 November 2009.

Abstract

Objective

To examine the relationships among seven frailty domains: nutrition, physical activity, mobility, strength, energy, cognition, and mood, using data from three studies.

Study Design and Setting

Data from three studies were separately analyzed using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The graphical output of MCA was used to assess (1) if the presence of deficits in the frailty domains separate from the absence of deficits on the graph, (2) the dimensionality of the domains, (3) the clustering of domains within each dimension, and (4) their relationship with age, sex, and disability. Results were compared across the studies.

Results

In two studies, presence of deficits for all domains separated from absence of deficits. In the third study, there was separation in all domains except cognition. Three main dimensions were retained in each study; however, assigned dimensionality of domains differed. The clustering of mobility with energy and/or strength was consistent across studies. Deficits were associated with older age, female sex, and disability.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that frailty is a multidimensional concept for which the relationships among domains differ according to the population characteristics. These domains, with the possible exception of cognition, appear to aggregate together and share a common underlying construct.

Keywords: Frailty, Domains of frailty, Older persons, Multiple correspondence analysis, Association, Epidemiology