Frailty as a predictor of mortality: a comparative cohort study of older adults in Costa Rica and the United States

Table 1 Cohort characteristics at baseline, Costa Rica and the United States (weighted estimates)

	Costa Rica (n = 1790)	United States (n = 6680)	p-value
Physical Frailty Phenotype (PFP)			< 0.001
Non-frail	16.7	20.8
Pre-frail	67.2	57.4
Frail	16.2	21.9
Age			< 0.001
65–69	38.8	30.1
70–74	27.7	26.2
75–79	18.8	19.4
80–84	9.6	14.2
85–89	3.8	7.4
90+	1.4	2.7
Sex			0.021
Male	47.6	44.2
Female	52.4	55.8
Education level^a			< 0.001
Low	50.3	24.3
Medium	36.2	60.9
High	13.5	14.8
Economic vulnerability^b			< 0.001
Yes	37.1	10.5
No	62.9	89.5
Race and ethnicity^c			NA
White		81.1
All other race/ethnicity		18.9
Metropolitan zone			< 0.001
Metropolitan	55.0	81.6
Non-Metropolitan	45.0	18.4
Marital status^d			0.475
In union	58.6	59.6
Not in union	41.4	40.4
Smoking^e			< 0.001
Current smoker	9.0	53.5
Non-smoker	91.0	46.5

^a n = 6014 for NHATS. Low level of education was defined as elementary school or lower for Costa Rican participants, and incomplete high school or lower for the United States participants. Medium level of education was defined as incomplete high school for Costa Rican participants, and complete high school or college education without obtaining a degree for the United States participants. High level of education was defined as complete high school or higher for Costa Rican participants, and bachelor’s degree or higher for the United States participants
^b n = 1785 for CRELES and 6517 for NHATS. Economic vulnerability was defined as a total income < 100 USD per month per person in 2014 USD for CRELES participants, and as being a recipient of Medicaid for NHATS participants
^c n = 6289 for NHATS
^d n = 6674 for NHATS
^e n = 1786 for CRELES and 6675 for NHATS

ISSN: 1471-2458