This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of frailty and its influencing factors among rural elderly individuals in ethnic minority groups, providing evidence for community management and health promotion in frail elderly individuals. A multistage stratified sampling method was employed to select 327 rural elderly individuals (aged ≥ 60 years) from Yi and Hani ethnic groups in Honghe County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, from January 2025 to February 2025. We collected data using self-designed social demographic questionnaires, the Frailty Phenotype (FP), Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), respectively. The database was established via EpiData 3.1, and the statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 26.0. Descriptive analysis was conducted for demographic characteristics, physical performance, nutrition, depression, cognition, and sleeping status of the ethnic elderly sample population. Univariate analysis included significant variables in multivariate logistic regression to evaluate independent factors of frailty in the elderly. Statistical significance was set at P <0.05. The mean age of the participants was 72.58 ± 7.83 years; 163 Yi (49.85%) and 164 Hani (50.15%) individuals were included. According to the frailty phenotype, there were 115 patients in the frailty group and 212 patients in the nonfrail group. The incidence of frailty in elderly ethnic minorities was 35.2%. Among the participants, 54.7% of the ethnic older group reported favorable physical performance on the SPPB scale. Notably, the majority of participants (53.2%) were potentially at risk of malnutrition in the MNA, and 24.5% of the overall sample population presented depressive symptoms at the same time. Furthermore, 42.8% of the ethnic older individuals showed cognitive decline in MMSE scores, while the majority of them (67.9%) had favorable sleep quality in the PSQI. Univariate analysis revealed statistically significant differences in frailty prevalence across age, educational background, smoking history, alcohol history, fall history, visual acuity, SPPB, GDS-15, PSQI, MMSE, and MNA ( P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression revealed that moderate and favorable physical performance, hyperopia, and depressive symptoms were significant influencing factors for frailty. The current study revealed that the frailty incidence of ethnic minority groups is much greater than that of their rural elderly counterparts in other reported rural areas in China. Physical performance, hyperopia, and depressive symptoms were associated with frailty in the sample population. It is recommended that regular physical examinations as well as screening for vision and depression are necessary for rural elderly individuals among ethnic minorities. More studies should focus on the dynamic changes in frailty in ethnic elderly groups in the future.
Ruan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.