• 1. School of Nursing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, P. R. China;
  • 2. Department of Neurology, Changshu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changshu, Jiangsu 215500, P. R. China;
XU Guihua, Email: 7115@njucm.edu.cn
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Objective  To understand the frailty status and main influencing factors of elderly Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Methods  The elderly PD patients who attended the Department of Neurology of Changshu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between November 2023 and March 2024 were selected. The patients’ frailty conditions were investigated using general information questionnaire, Chinese version of Tilburg Frailty Indicator, Hoehn-Yahr Rating Scale, Mini-Nutritional Assessment Short Form, Movement Disorder Society-Unified PD Rating Scale Part Ⅲ, PD Sleep Scale-2, and Mini-Mental State Examination. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to further determine the influencing factors of the frailty status in elderly PD patients. Results  A total of 170 PD patients were included. Among them, 117 cases (68.82%) had frailty, while 53 cases (31.18%) had not frailty; The average score for frailty was (6.48±3.34) points, the average score for nutritional status was (11.89±1.65) points, the average score for motor function was (27.40±13.73) points, the average score for sleep quality was (16.05±7.76) points, and the average score for cognitive status is (26.25±4.51) points. The Pearson correlation analysis results showed that PD patient frailty was positively correlated with motor function and sleep quality (P<0.01), and negatively correlated with nutritional status and cognitive status (P<0.01). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, education, place of residence, course of disease, Hoehn-Yahr Rating, nutritional status, motor function, cognitive status and sleep quality were the influencing factors of frailty in PD patients (P<0.05). Conclusions  Elderly PD patients are prone to frailty. Healthcare professionals should pay attention to early screening for frailty in this population and provide timely and effective interventions to prevent or delay the onset of frailty in patients.

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