Interaction between frailty and nutritional status on mortality and long-term hospitalization in older Koreans: A retrospective analysis of data from the 2008 Survey on Health and Welfare Status of the Elderly in Korea.

Objectives: Although it is well known that nutritional deficiency influences frailty, and both nutritional status and frailty are closely related to mortality and morbidity in older people, there are no studies concerning this interaction. In this study, we evaluated whether the interaction of frailty and nutritional deficiency is additive and/or multiplicative.

Methods: We analyzed data from 8907 individuals (≥65 years old) who took part in the 2008 Survey on Health and Welfare Status of the Elderly in Korea.