Frailty Markers Predict 20-Year Death Risk in Older Chinese Adults
Graded Strong — prospective cohort of 4,000 older adults in Hong Kong followed for a median of 18 years, with deaths confirmed by death registry, though all drawn from a single cohort.
- Design
- Cohort Study
- Participants
- 4,000
- Duration
- —
- Funding
- —
This study suggests frailty assessments could help identify older adults at higher mortality risk.
In about 4,000 older Hong Kong adults tracked for nearly two decades, frailty measures strongly predicted who would die and from what cause. Being frail was linked to a 66% higher risk of death compared to being fit. Adding blood-based markers like inflammation and kidney function to frailty scores slightly improved predictions. One surprise: none of the biological aging markers predicted cancer deaths specifically.
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