Background

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome with repercussions on health, disability, and dependency.

Objectives

To assess health resource use and costs attributable to frailty in the aged population.

Methods

A population-based observational longitudinal study was performed, with follow-up from January 2018 to December 2019. Data were obtained retrospectively from computerized primary care and hospital medical records. The study population included all inhabitants aged ≥ 65 years ascribed to 3 primary care centres in Barcelona (Spain). Frailty status was established according to the Electronic Screening Index of Frailty. Health costs considered were hospitalizations, emergency visits, outpatient visits, day hospital sessions, and primary care visits. Cost analysis was performed from a public health financing perspective.

Results

For 9315 included subjects (age 75.4 years, 56% women), frailty prevalence was 12.3%. Mean (SD) healthcare cost in the study period was €1420.19 for robust subjects, €2845.51 for pre-frail subjects, €4200.05 for frail subjects, and €5610.73 for very frail subjects. Independently of age and sex, frailty implies an additional healthcare cost of €1171 per person and year, i.e., 2.25-fold greater for frail compared to non-frail.

Conclusions

Our findings underline the economic relevance of frailty in the aged population, with healthcare spending increasing as frailty increases.

中文翻译：

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加泰罗尼亚 65 岁及以上人口的虚弱状况与卫生资源使用和医疗费用的关系

背景

虚弱是一种老年综合症，会对健康、残疾和依赖产生影响。

目标

评估卫生资源的使用和可归因于老年人口虚弱的成本。

方法

进行了一项基于人群的观察性纵向研究，随访时间为 2018 年 1 月至 2019 年 12 月。数据是从计算机化的初级保健和医院病历中回顾性获得的。研究人群包括巴塞罗那（西班牙）3 个初级保健中心的所有年龄≥65 岁的居民。虚弱状态是根据虚弱电子筛查指数确定的。考虑的医疗费用包括住院、急诊、门诊、日间住院和初级保健就诊。成本分析是从公共卫生筹资的角度进行的。

结果

对于 9315 名受试者（年龄 75.4 岁，56% 为女性），虚弱患病率为 12.3%。研究期间的平均 (SD) 医疗保健费用对于健壮的受试者为 1420.19 欧元，对于体弱的受试者为 2845.51 欧元，对于体弱的受试者为 4200.05 欧元，对于非常虚弱的受试者为 5610.73 欧元。与年龄和性别无关，虚弱意味着每人每年额外支付 1171 欧元的医疗保健费用，即虚弱者是非虚弱者的 2.25 倍。

结论

我们的研究结果强调了老年人口虚弱的经济相关性，医疗保健支出随着虚弱程度的增加而增加。