Association Between Sustained Frailty Remission and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study

BackgroundFrailty is dynamic and potentially reversible, but the prognostic significance of sustained frailty remission remains unclear.ObjectiveTo examine associations of sustained frailty remission with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.MethodsWe analyzed 4,580 SHARE participants aged 50 years or older. Frailty trajectories across Waves 1, 2, and 4 were classified as remain pre-frail/frail, remain robust, or sustained remission. Cox models estimated associations with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 100 months, 831 deaths occurred. Compared with remain pre-frail/frail, sustained remission was associated with lower all-cause mortality (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.66-0.99) and cancer mortality (HR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.41-0.91), but not significantly with CVD mortality (HR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.50-1.07). Remain robust showed the lowest all-cause mortality risk (HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.43-0.63).