Identifying Frailty and Its Associated Factors Among Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury in Vietnam.
10 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Medicine, VNU University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
- 2Institute of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam.
- 3Department of Trauma, Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hung Yen, Vietnam.
- 4CEReSS-Health Service Research and Quality of Life Center, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
- 5Faculty of Public Health, VNU University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
- 6Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- 7Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France.
- 8Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 9Institute of Health Economics and Technology (iHEAT), Hanoi, Vietnam.
- 10Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Abstract
Background
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where post-discharge rehabilitation services are often limited. Frailty is a multidimensional construct encompassing physical, cognitive, psychological, and social vulnerability. After TBI, multidimensional frailty may overlap with disability, depressive symptoms, persistent neurological problems, and social vulnerability. However, little is known about Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI)-defined frailty among adults after hospital discharge for TBI in resource-limited settings.Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 adult patients discharged after TBI from Thai Binh General Hospital, Vietnam. Data were collected via structured telephone interviews during a study period extending from January to August 2020. Frailty was measured using the GFI and operationally defined as a score of ≥ 4. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with GFI-defined frailty status.Results
The prevalence of GFI-defined frailty was 36.8%, despite the majority (93.9%) having mild TBI. In the adjusted logistic model, female sex was associated with lower odds of GFI-defined frailty than male sex (aOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.15-0.87), and rural residence was associated with lower odds than urban residence (aOR = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.09-0.66). Current smoking (aOR = 2.80; 95% CI: 1.10-7.14), post-injury sequelae (aOR = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.15-4.98), depressive symptoms (aOR = 3.24; 95% CI: 1.23-8.54), and friend-group support (aOR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.07-2.34) were associated with higher odds of GFI-defined frailty. Overall, 33.0% of participants reported post-injury sequelae, and 10.2% experienced catastrophic health expenditure. Friend-group support was positively associated with frailty, suggesting that higher reported support from friends may reflect greater support needs among frail patients after discharge rather than a harmful effect of social support.Conclusions
GFI-defined frailty was common among reachable adults discharged after TBI from this single hospital. The identified relationships are cross-sectional associations and may partly reflect overlap between frailty, functional limitation, psychological burden, and social-support needs. Post-discharge follow-up should consider functional, psychological, social, occupational, and financial vulnerability in addition to neurological symptoms. Multicenter longitudinal studies incorporating pre-injury status and rehabilitation exposure are needed to confirm these findings.
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BibTeX
@article{tran2026identifying,
title = {{Identifying Frailty and Its Associated Factors Among Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury in Vietnam.}},
author = {Tung Hoang Tran and Hai Minh Vu and Tham Thi Nguyen and Carl Latkin and Laurent Boyer and Bastien Boussat and Pascal Auquier and Huyen Do and Cyrus S H Ho},
journal = {Brain and behavior},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/brb3.71885},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42975144},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Identifying Frailty and Its Associated Factors Among Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury in Vietnam.
AU - Tung Hoang Tran
AU - Hai Minh Vu
AU - Tham Thi Nguyen
AU - Carl Latkin
AU - Laurent Boyer
AU - Bastien Boussat
AU - Pascal Auquier
AU - Huyen Do
AU - Cyrus S H Ho
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - Brain and behavior
DO - 10.1002/brb3.71885
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42975144
AB - Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where post-discharge rehabilitation services are often limited. Frailty is a multidimensional construct encompassing physical, cognitive, psychological, and social vulnerability. After TBI, multidimensional frailty may overlap with disability, depressive symptoms, persistent neurological problems, and social vulnerability. However, little is known about Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI)-defined frailty among adults after hospital discharge for TBI in resource-limited settings.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 adult patients discharged after TBI from Thai Binh General Hospital, Vietnam. Data were collected via structured telephone interviews during a study period extending from January to August 2020. Frailty was measured using the GFI and operationally defined as a score of ≥ 4. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with GFI-defined frailty status.Results The prevalence of GFI-defined frailty was 36.8%, despite the majority (93.9%) having mild TBI. In the adjusted logistic model, female sex was associated with lower odds of GFI-defined frailty than male sex (aOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.15-0.87), and rural residence was associated with lower odds than urban residence (aOR = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.09-0.66). Current smoking (aOR = 2.80; 95% CI: 1.10-7.14), post-injury sequelae (aOR = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.15-4.98), depressive symptoms (aOR = 3.24; 95% CI: 1.23-8.54), and friend-group support (aOR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.07-2.34) were associated with higher odds of GFI-defined frailty. Overall, 33.0% of participants reported post-injury sequelae, and 10.2% experienced catastrophic health expenditure. Friend-group support was positively associated with frailty, suggesting that higher reported support from friends may reflect greater support needs among frail patients after discharge rather than a harmful effect of social support.Conclusions GFI-defined frailty was common among reachable adults discharged after TBI from this single hospital. The identified relationships are cross-sectional associations and may partly reflect overlap between frailty, functional limitation, psychological burden, and social-support needs. Post-discharge follow-up should consider functional, psychological, social, occupational, and financial vulnerability in addition to neurological symptoms. Multicenter longitudinal studies incorporating pre-injury status and rehabilitation exposure are needed to confirm these findings.
SN - 2162-3279
ER -