Identification of Risk Factors for Mortality and Poor-Quality-of-Life Survival in Frail Older Women Participating in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.
OBJECTIVE
To identify potentially modifiable factors associated with overall and poor-quality-of-life (QoL) survival in physically frail older women.


METHODS
Prospective study with 7 years of follow-up to examine mortality and, in survivors with a QoL measurement within the next 3 years, to examine poor- versus good-QoL patterns of survival.


METHODS
Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI OS).


METHODS
Frail older women (N = 11,070; average age 72.6, range 65-82).


METHODS
Frailty was defined using the modified Fried criteria. Study outcomes were overall survival and global QoL. Risk factors were measured at the first follow-up clinic visit for WHI OS participants between 1997 and 2001.


RESULTS
Of 11,070 frail women, 1,487 (13%) died. After 2,677 survivors with poor or unknown QoL were excluded at study baseline, 3,153 (46%) reported good QoL, and 1,263 (18%) reported poor QoL at the end of study follow-up; QoL measures for 2,490 (38%) were unavailable. Older age, history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, poor self-rated health, body mass index less than 25.0 kg/m(2) , waist circumference greater than 88 cm, systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mmHg, high number and severity of somatic symptoms, smoking, and low education were associated with greater likelihood of poor-QoL survival. Cumulative baseline risk scores demonstrated an approximately linear increase in probability of poor-QoL survival with an increase in risk factors. The probability of poor-QoL survival was 0.19 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.15-0.22) in those with zero to two risk factors and 0.40 (95% CI = 0.35-0.44) in those with six or more risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Several potentially important risk factors for aging well that can be monitored in clinical and research settings, some of which are modifiable, were identified in a large group of frail old women.
School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Oleg
O
Zaslavsky
School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Nancy F
NF
Woods
Division of Epidemiology, University on California at San Diego, San Diego, California.
Andrea Z
AZ
LaCroix
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jane A
JA
Cauley
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee.
Karen C
KC
Johnson
School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Barbara B
BB
Cochrane
Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Shira Zelber
SZ
Sagi
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
QoL; aging well; frailty; mortality; symptoms