Frailty prevalence and factors associated with the Frailty Phenotype and Frailty Index: Findings from the North West Adelaide Health Study

<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>To determine the prevalence of frailty and associated factors in the North West Adelaide Health Study (2004–2006) using the Frailty Phenotype (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FP</jats:styled-content>) and Frailty Index (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content>).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Frailty was measured in 909 community‐dwelling participants aged ≥65 years using the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FP</jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FP</jats:styled-content> classified 18% of participants as frail and the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content> 48%. The measures were strongly correlated (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.76, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.001) and had a kappa agreement of 0.38 for frailty classification, with 37% of participants classified as non‐frail by the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FP</jats:styled-content> being classified as frail by the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content>. Being older, a current smoker, and having multimorbidity and polypharmacy were associated with higher frailty levels by both tools. Female, low income, obesity and living alone were associated with the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Frailty prevalence was higher when assessed using the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">FI</jats:styled-content>. Socioeconomic factors and other health determinants contribute to higher frailty levels.</jats:p></jats:sec>