title: Association between employee benefits and frailty in community-dwelling older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The phenotype of frailty has been associated with an increased vulnerability for the development of adverse health-related outcomes. The origin of frailty is multifactorial and financial issues could be implicated, as they have been associated with health status, well-being and mortality. However, the association between economic benefits and frailty has been poorly explored. Therefore, the objective was to determine the association between employee benefits and frailty.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study of 927 community-dwelling older adults aged 70 years and older participating in the Mexican Study of Nutritional and Psychosocial Markers of Frailty was carried out. Employee benefits were established according to eight characteristics: bonus, profit sharing, pension, health insurance, food stamps, housing credit, life insurance, and Christmas bonus. Frailty was defined according to a slightly modified version of the phenotype proposed by Fried et al. Multinomial logistic regression models were run to determine the association between employee benefits and frailty adjusting by sociodemographic and health covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of frailty was 14.1%, and 4.4% of participants rated their health status as "poor." Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that employee benefits were statistically and independently associated with the frail subgroup (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.74-0.98; P = 0.027) even after adjusting for potential confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fewer employee benefits are associated with frailty. Supporting spreading employee benefits for older people could have a positive impact on the development of frailty and its consequences. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 606-611.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.|Centre de recherche INSERM, U897, Univ Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: José Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Avila-Funes
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Diana Leticia
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Paniagua-Santos
authors.affiliation: Medicine, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Escobar-Rivera
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Ana Patricia
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Navarrete-Reyes
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Navarro
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche INSERM, U897, Univ Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amieva
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: developing countries; employee benefits; epidemiology; frail elderly