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Aim: To enhance health services that can address multifaceted issues, the Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old‐Old (QMCOO) was strategically developed to ascertain frailty status. Using the National Health Insurance database system, we aimed to clarify whether the QMCOO can predict new certifications for long‐term care for disabilities. Method: Of 20 151 adults aged ≥75 years who underwent health checkups in Kashiwa City, Japan, in fiscal year 2020 (examination rate 36.8%), 18 130 persons were included (mean age 80.1 ± 4.1 years, 55.1% women). The outcome was the new certification of long‐term care until January 2022. From the medical care receipt data, QMCOO, age, sex, living arrangement, body mass index, comorbidity, and musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases were evaluated. Result: During the follow‐up period, 727 (4.0%) participants had an incident disability (median follow up 457 days [quartile range 408–519 days]). The QMCOO's predictive accuracy for new long‐term care needs was optimal when the total score of 3/4 was used as the threshold. Older adults with scores ≥4 had a higher adjusted hazard ratio for incident disability (adjusted hazard ratio 2.5, 95% confidence interval 2.1–2.9). Furthermore, the adjusted hazard ratio was greatly enhanced with comorbidity (6.6, 95% confidence interval 4.8–8.9). Conclusion: The QMCOO, which reflects multifaceted frailty, might be predictive of incident disability, and its predictive accuracy could be improved by considering comorbidities. The comprehensive QMCOO could contribute to extending healthy life expectancy through efficiently assessing health care and preventing long‐term care, even among the old‐old in the latter stage who tended to suffer from multimorbidity. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 124–130. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal observational cohort study aimed to clarify the relationship between perceived value (PV) to adopt new behaviors and incident disability in community-dwelling older adults. Participants were 5073 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years in Japan (M age = 74.0 ± 5.6 years; female = 55.1%). The mean follow-up time was 34.5 months. Baseline data were collected during health checkups in a prospective cohort study. Measurements included engagement in physical activity (PA), cognitive activity (CA), and social activity (SA), PV, health and physical conditions, and demographic characteristics. PV was assessed by asking whether participants thought it was valuable to adopt new behaviors related to PA, CA, and SA. Participants were classified as having higher/lower PV, PA, CA, and SA. Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze the association between PV and incident disability. PV was examined both as an independent variable and in combination as follows: higher PV and higher PA/CA/SA (high/high); lower PV and higher PA/CA/SA (low/high); higher PV and lower PA/CA/SA (high/low); and lower PV and lower PA/CA/SA (low/low). Higher PV was significantly associated with a lower hazard ratio (HR) for incident disability. The low/high, high/low, and low/low significantly increased the HR compared to high/high in the analyses of PV & PA and CA. The analysis of PV & SA showed that only low/low increased the HR compared to high/high. Having both higher PV and higher activity engagement may contribute to preventing disability development. Both support for activities and value education in older adults may be needed. • Higher perceived value associated with reduced HR of incident disability. • Physical, cognitive, and social activity associated with reduced HR of incident disability. • Lower perceived value with activities increased HR of incident disability. • Both support for activities and value education in older adults may be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To elucidate whether a combination of slow gait speed and depressive symptoms result in higher risk of incident disability in older adults than either symptom individually. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Obu City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Participants Participants were 4038 older adults (48.7% male, mean age = 71 years) who met the study inclusion criteria. Measurements Longitudinal data on incident disability were collected up to 33 months [median 31 months (interquartile range 29–32 months)] after baseline. We monitored monthly incident disability, defined as Japanese long-term care insurance certification for personal support or care. Baseline measurements included covariates for incident disability, gait speed, and the Geriatric Depression Scale for assessing depressive symptoms. The associations between slow gait, depressive symptoms, or their co-occurrence, and incident disability were examined. Results Control participants were the reference in an adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression model. Participants with co-occurring slow gait and depressive symptoms showed a greater risk of incident disability [hazard ratio (HR) 3.08, confidence interval (CI) 95% 2.00–4.75]. Greater risk was also found for participants with slow gait speed alone (HR 2.44, CI 95% 1.71–3.47) and depressive symptoms alone (HR 1.60, CI 95% 1.01–2.53). Conclusions Older adults with both risk factors may require early detection and physical and psychological intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty, which is defined as aging-related multisystem impairments, can lead to adverse health outcomes. However, evidence for such a connection in Chinese older adults remains lacking. This study examined the association between frailty and future falls and disability among community-dwelling Chinese older adults.Methods: Data were obtained from the 2011 and 2015 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Participants were aged 60 years and above at baseline in 2011 and completed the follow-up survey in 2015. Outcome measures were future falls, incident disability in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and worsening performance of ADLs and IADLs. A multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between frailty phenotype and falls, incident disability, and worsening disability during a four-year period.Results: We found that frail participants were at increased risk at follow-up for: falls (OR 1.54, 95% CI, 1.14-2.08); developing new ADL difficulties (OR 4.10, 95% CI, 2.79-6.03) and IADL difficulties (OR 3.06, 95% CI, 2.03-4.61); and worsening ADLs performance (OR 2.27, 95% CI, 1.27-4.06), after adjusting for potential confounders. Prefrailty was also significantly associated with future falls, incident disability in ADLs and IADLs, but with a lower magnitude of effect.Conclusions: Frailty phenotype is an independent predictor of future falls, incident disability, and worsening performance in ADLs among Chinese older adults. The association suggests the need to pay special attention in caring for frail and prefrail elders and improving individuals' frailty status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]