Impact of Frailty on Health Service Used: A Sample of Aksaray

ABSTRACT

Objective: Frailty has negative consequences such as reduced quality of life and increased need for specialized care. This study aimed to determine the impact of frailty on health service use among older adults. Methods: A sample of 189 patients (≥ 65 years) was recruited from internal and surgical disease services and polyclinics at the State Hospital in Turkey. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews using an information form, the Edmonton Frail Scale and the Nottingham Health Profile. Relationships between continuous variables were analysed using Pearson rank-correlation coefficient. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between frailty and each health service use variable. Results: In total, 49.2% of the participants were frail. The mean Nottingham Health Profile score was 163.58 ± 114.03. The Edmonton Frail Scale score increases by 1 unit, the frequency of using health care service increases by 0.892. There were statistically significant moderate positive linear relationships between The Edmonton Frail Scale score, and Nottingham Health Profile score (r=0.692, p<0.001). Conclusions: The frailty frequency was high. The results of this study showed a weak association between frailty and healthcare service application. The quality of life of frail older people is lower.