Combined effect of diabetes and frailty on mortality and incident disability in older Japanese adults

AIM: Evidence is limited on how frailty affects the association between diabetes and adverse outcomes at the population level. The present community-based study aimed to clarify the relative risks of death and disability in older Japanese adults with diabetes, frailty, both or neither. METHODS: The present prospective study analyzed data from 1271 Japanese residents aged ≥65 years in Kusatsu town in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, who participated in annual health checkups carried out between 2002 and 2011, and were initially free of disability. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify associations of diabetes and frailty with all-cause mortality and incident disability. Compared with non-frail participants without diabetes, those with diabetes and frailty had higher risks of mortality (multivariable hazard ratio 5.0, 95% CI 2.4-10.3) and incident disability (hazard ratio 3.9, 95% CI 2.1-7.3). In contrast, non-frail participants with diabetes did not have a significantly increased risk of mortality, although they had a higher tendency for the incidence of disability, as compared with non-frail participants without diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: At the population level, the risks of death and disability in persons with mild diabetes were strongly affected by the presence of frailty. From a community-based perspective, diabetes-related mortality and disability incidence might be reduced by preventing or improving frailty in conjunction with glycemic control. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 423-428.