Malnutrition as a major related factor of frailty among older adults residing in long-term care facilities in Korea

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the prevalence and co-existence of frailty and malnutrition and 2) to identify factors related to frailty (including malnutrition) according to the level of frailty. METHODS: Data collection was conducted from July 11, 2021, to January 23, 2022, in 558 older adults residing in 16 long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in Korea. The FRAIL-NH and Mini-Nutritional Assessment short form were used to measure frailty and nutrition, respectively. The data analysis included descriptive statistics and a multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 83.68 (± 7.39) years. Among 558 participants, 37 (6.6%), 274 (49.1%), and 247 (44.3%) were robust, prefrail, and frail, respectively. At the same time, 75.8% were categorized as having malnutrition status (malnourished: 18.1%; risk of malnutrition: 57.7%), and 40.9% had co-existing malnutrition and frailty. In the multivariate analysis, malnutrition was identified as the major frailty-related factor. Compared with a normal nutritional status, the incidence of frailty in the malnutrition group was 10.35 times (95% CI: 3.78–28.36) higher than the incidence of robustness and 4.80 times (95% CI: 2.69–8.59) higher than the incidence of prefrail. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of frailty and malnutrition, and their co-existence, among older adults residing in LTCFs was high. Malnutrition is a major factor that increases the incidence of frailty. Therefore, active interventions are needed to improve the nutritional status of this population.