老年衰弱症最佳化客觀性身體功能指標之建構

Constructing Optimized Criteria for the Objective Physical Function Assessment of Elderly People with Frailty

老年症候群是指老年人身上出現某些難以符合個別疾病診斷的一種臨床表徵，其包含衰弱、失禁、疼痛、營養不良及認知功能缺損等。衰弱症已成為影響老人成功老化重要因素。世界衛生組織針對老人衰弱症已積極發展相關介入計畫。有鑑於此，國家衛生研究院在「2020 健康國民衛生政策白皮書」中，針對老人疾病防治目標為「積極老化、預防失能」，而策略之一為預防「老人衰弱及失能防治」。然而，有鑑於目前衰弱症的評估及測量方式大都以回溯性進行，極易造成長者回憶偏差。文獻指出，老人衰弱症與身體功能有共病關係，因此藉由進行老人身體功能評估，以客觀性建立衰弱症評估指標，實有其重要性。本文經由文獻探討，提出適用於評估衰弱長者之身體功能項目，以提供專業護理人員作為早期偵測長者衰弱狀況，以進一步提供相關護理指導，期望能有效改善長者衰弱症狀況。

Frailty is a clinical manifestation of certain physical changes observed in elderly people; these changes cannot be diagnosed as a specific disease condition. Symptoms of frailty include weakness, incontinence, pain, malnutrition, and cognitive impairment. Frailty is a crucial factor influencing the successful aging of elderly people. The World Health Organization has actively developed relevant intervention programs for elderly people with frailty. Therefore, in the Healthy People 2020 formulated by the National Health Research Institutes, frailty prevention measures are aimed at achieving“active aging and preventing disabilities,”and one of the prevention strategies adopted is“preventing frailty and disability.”However, current frailty assessments and measurements are performed using retrospective approaches, which easily result in recall bias in elderly people. Past studies have indicated that frailty and physical function exhibit a comorbid relationship. Therefore, assessing the physical functions of elderly people to objectively establish frailty assessment indicators is crucial. In this paper, a literature review is presented, and physical function indicators suitable for frail elderly people are proposed. The results can serve as a reference for nursing professionals to detect elderly frailty at an early stage. Thus, proper nursing care can be provided to effectively improve frailty in elderly people.