Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia; 2) The Ohio State University, Department of Anthropology, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Vidovič Maruška, e-mail: Maruska.Vidovic@nijz.si.
Frailty is the multi-system dysregulation following multiple life stressors that is associated with age and increases an individual’s vulnerability to negative health effects (Fried et al 2001). One of the most critical questions frailty research seeks to answer is to what extent biocultural variables predict frailty. In the model employed in this paper, endogenous variables that individuals cannot control, such as age and sex, affect exogenous variables that are a result of individuals’ lifestyles (Fried et al., 2001). These variables then affect frailty, as assessed by a five-factor frailty index developed by Fried et al. (2001) and Walston (2005). Previous research that also employed this index studied mostly North American populations and found associations between education level, age, sex, prevalence of certain diseases and levels of frailty (Fried et al., 2001, Walston, 2005). This paper broadens the range of variables studied, and expands the demographic and cultural scope of frailty research by applying the frailty index to a geographically isolated Slovenian population. Data were obtained from 40 participants aged 55 years and older during fieldwork in 2008 and 2009 in the Selska Valley, Slovenia. Of participants, 26 were women (ages 59–86) and 14 men (ages 57–82). Self-report data and physical assessments were recorded for each individual. We used linear regression to explore associations between frailty and these variables. Significant associations (p=0.05) were found between frailty and age, being female, height, length of residence in the village, self-reports of negative health effects including poor overall health, feeling tired, and negative future health expectations. When effects of age and sex were controlled, significant associations were again found between frailty and multiple self-reports of poor health and painful or reduced activity level. In conclusion, this paper explores possible interactions of lifestyle factors and frailty across cultures and calls for further cross-cultural frailty research.
physiological variation, frailty, old people, Selška valley, Slovenia
Цит.: Vidovič Maruška, Sharron Genevieve, Crews Douglas PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIATION ASSOCIATED WITH FRAILTY AMONG OLDER RESIDENTS OF HIGHER ALTITUDE VILLAGES OF THE SELŠKA VALLEY // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 22-23
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