ABSTRACT
Objective To explore influencing factors of the elderly's frailty. Methods Eight communities were randomly selected from Dalang Town, Dongguan City, and all the eligible elderly people were investigated using the self-developed frailty index. Univariate analysis was performed using the 2 test, and multivariate analysis was performed by ordinal multi-class Logistic regression. Results Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in the distribution of frailty conditions among different demographic characteristics, family relationships, economic situation and lifestyle (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that younger age (OR=0.13, P<0.001), male (OR=0.65, P=0.012), and daily exercise (OR=0.76, P=0.049) were protective factors for frailty of the elderly. Illiterate (OR=2.42, P<0.001), fewer times to see children per month (OR=1.82, P=0.035), pension funds as the main economic source (OR=1.59, P<0.001), low level of physical activity (OR=2.18, P<0.001) and none social participation (OR=1.41, P=0.004) were risk factors of frailty. Conclusion Age, gender, education level, times to see children per month, economic source, exercise frequency, physical activity level and social participation are the influencing factors of frailty of the elderly.