Frail Older Adults are More Likely to Develop Pneumonia by Approximately 1.9 Times and Suffer from Severe Pneumonia by 1.8 Times

August 11, 2021

Epidemiological Study of 180,000 Japanese older adults over 65 Years

Frailty is a condition in which there is a high risk of requiring nursing care due to physical and/or mental deterioration deriving from aging or illness. The research group of Assistant Professor SAITO Kousuke and Specially Appointed Professor SHOBUGAWA Yugo in the Division of International Health at the Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences of Niigata University found that older adults aged 65 and over with frailty are more likely to develop pneumonia by about 1.9 times compared to those without frailty and that the pneumonia is more likely to become severe (prone to hospitalization) by 1.8 times. They also found that older adults in the pre-frailty stage are 1.3 times more likely to develop pneumonia than those without frailty.

Research Results

  • Older adults with frailty are more likely to develop pneumonia by about 1.9 times and the condition become severe 1.8 times more than those without frailty.
  • Older adults in the pre-frailty stage are 1.3 times more likely to develop pneumonia than those without frailty.

Publication Details

Journal: Scientific reports
Title: Frailty is associated with susceptibility and severity of pneumonia in older adults (A JAGES multilevel cross-sectional study)
Authors: Kousuke Iwai-Saito, Yugo Shobugawa, Jun Aida, Katsunori Kondo
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86854-3

More News

All News