Prevalence of geriatric syndromes and their association with age among older patients at Thai nguyen National Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of geriatric syndromes and their association with age among older adults attending the Department of Geriatrics – Health Protection, Thai Nguyen National Hospital. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 475 older patients. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and medical records using validated instruments, including the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) index, Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale, SARC-F questionnaire, 21-item Fall Risk Index (Fri-21), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), and 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and analysed using SPSS 25.0, applying the Chi-square test and univariable logistic regression. Results: Mean age was 76.83 ± 6.89 years. Most participants were aged ≥70 years, and females outnumbered males. The prevalence of geriatric syndromes was as follows: multimorbidity (67.4%), polypharmacy (66.7%), sarcopenia (44.8%), IADL impairment (46.5%), cognitive impairment (47.4%), frailty (36.8%), ADL impairment (36.6%), high risk of falls (33.1%), and depression (26.5%). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that, compared with the 60–69 age group, those aged ≥80 had significantly higher odds of polypharmacy, frailty, sarcopenia, and multimorbidity, while in the 70–79 group only polypharmacy was significantly associated with age (OR 1.88 vs. 2.49 for the ≥80 group). Conclusion: Geriatric syndromes are highly prevalent among older adults. Comprehensive geriatric screening should be strengthened, especially for medication use, sarcopenia, and frailty in patients aged ≥ 80 years to enable timely and appropriate interventions.