Abstract
Models of human mortality include a factor that summarises intrinsic differences in individual rates of ageing, commonly called frailty. Frailty also describes a clinical syndrome of apparent vulnerability. In a representative, cross-sectional, Canadian survey (n = 66,589) we calculated a frailty index as the mean accumulation of deficits and previously showed it to increase exponentially with age. Here, its density function exhibited a monotonic change in shape, being least skewed at the oldest ages. Although the shape gradually changed, the frailty index was well fitted by a gamma distribution. Of note, the variation coefficient, initially high, decreased from middle age on. Being able to quantify frailty means that health risks can be summarised at both the individual and group levels.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 517-519 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Mechanisms of Ageing and Development |
| Volume | 125 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This analysis was funded by Health Canada through the National Health Research and Development Program, Grant 6603-1548-NPHS and by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant 40922. Kenneth Rockwood is supported by an Investigator Award from the CIHR and by the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation as the Kathryn Allen Weldon Professor of Alzheimer Research.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Ageing
- Developmental Biology
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
