ABSTRACT
Objectives:
to analyze the association between frailty and mobility among hospitalized older adults in general medical wards.
Methods:
this analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in a hospital in southern Brazil. Data collection involved a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, physical frailty phenotype markers, and the Perme Intensive Care Unit Mobility Score. The study included patients aged 60 years or older admitted to general medical wards. Exclusion criteria were critical illness, intensive care unit indication, pending transfer, or droplet precautions. Descriptive statistics, Tukey’s test, and the test for equality of proportions were used.
Results:
of the 547 participants, 46.07% were prefrail and 36.74% were frail. A significant difference in mobility scores was found between frail (15.2 ± 8.95) and non-frail (27.6 ± 5.05) older adults (p < 0.001), and between frail (15.2 ± 8.95) and prefrail (25.9 ± 6.45) individuals (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
frail older adults hospitalized in general medical wards exhibited significantly lower mobility levels compared to their non frail and prefrail counterparts.