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. 2021 Apr 8;18(3):393-404.
doi: 10.1007/s10433-020-00587-2. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Education, wealth, and duration of life expected in various degrees of frailty

Zachary Zimmer  1 , Yasuhiko Saito  2 , Olga Theou  3   4 , Clove Haviva  4 , Kenneth Rockwood  4
Affiliations

Education, wealth, and duration of life expected in various degrees of frailty

Zachary Zimmer et al. Eur J Ageing. .

Abstract

Multistate life tables are used to estimate life expected in three frailty states: frailty free, mild/moderate frailty, severe frailty. Estimates are provided for the combination of education and wealth by age, stratified by sex. Data consider 17,115 cases from the Health and Retirement Study, 2000-2014. Frailty is measured using a 59 item frailty index based on deficit accumulation. Estimates are derived using stochastic population analysis for complex events. Population-based and status-based results are reported. Findings confirm a hypothesis that the combination of higher education and wealth results in longer lives in more favorable degrees of frailty. Also, as hypothesized, wealth generally affords a greater advantage than does education among those with severe frailty at baseline. For instance, high wealth provides a 70-year-old woman with severe frailty at baseline 0.70 more total years and 0.81 more frailty free years then her counterpart with low wealth, compared to gains of 0.39 and 0.54, respectively, for those with high education. Unexpectedly, wealth also has a greater role among those frailty free at baseline. A 70-year-old woman frailty free at baseline with high wealth lives 3.19 more net years and 4.13 more years frailty free than her counterpart with low wealth, while the same comparison for high versus low education indicates advantages of 2.00 total and 1.96 frailty free years. Relative change ratios also indicate more robust results for wealth versus education. In sum, there is evidence that inequality in duration of life in degrees of frailty is socially patterned.

Keywords: Aging; Frailty; Health; Multistate life tables; Socioeconomic status; Transition probability.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThrough Dalhousie University, KR has asserted copyright of the Clinical Frailty Scale. It is free for use for education, research and not-for-profit care.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Population-based estimates for years and proportion of life in each frailty state by age stratified by sex
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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