Preventing autonomy loss with multicomponent geriatric interventions: A resource-saving strategy? Evidence from the SPRINT-T study.

Background: The objective of healthy aging strategies is to support interventions targeting autonomy loss prevention, with the assumption that these interventions are likely to be efficient by simultaneously improving clinical outcomes and saving costs.

Methods: We compare the economic impact of two interventions targeting frailty prevention in older European populations: a multicomponent intervention including physical activity monitoring, nutrition management, information and communications technology use and a relatively simple healthy aging lifestyle education program based on a series of workshops. Our sample includes 1,519 male and female participants from 11 European countries aged 70 years or older. Our econometric model explores trends in several outcomes depending on intervention receipt and frailty status at baseline.

Results: Implementing a multicomponent intervention among frail older people does not lead to a lower use of care and do not prevent quality of life losses associated with aging. However, it impacts older people's sense of priorities and interest in the future. We find no statistically significant differences between the two interventions, suggesting that the implementation of a multicomponent intervention may not be the most efficient strategy. The impact of the interventions does not differ by frailty status at baseline.

Conclusions: Our results show the need to implement healthy aging strategies that are more focused on people's interests.