Authors: Bruce Julie, Hossain Anower, Finnegan Susanne, Withers Emma, Lall Ranjit, Underwood Martin, Chen Ji, Bojke Chris, Lamb Sallie on behalf of PreFIT Study Group. 
Title: Pain and health-related quality of life by frailty status in older adults recruited to a falls prevention trial. 
Background: Few large scale studies have examined changes in health-related quality (HRQoL) of life, pain and frailty trajectory in older adults. We explored change in HRQoL and pain status in a large cohort of adults aged 70 years and older. 
Design: Secondary analyses of data reported by 9803 community-dwelling adults aged 70 to 101 years, recruited to the UK Prevention of Falls Injury Trial (PreFIT). This cluster RCT investigated three alternative falls prevention interventions.
Outcomes: HRQoL was measured using the EQ-5D-3L and Short-Form-12 administered at baseline, 4, 8, 12 and 18 months post-randomisation. Frailty was measured using the Strawbridge questionnaire.  
Results: 9803 participants were recruited from 63 general practices. Mean age was 78 years (SD 5.7; range 70-101); half were female 5150/9804 (53%). Pain and discomfort was common, with 60% reporting moderate or severe pain at baseline. A slightly higher proportion of responding participants were classified as frail at 18 months (1672/7490; 22.3%) compared with baseline (2005/9803; 20.5%). Overall, baseline HRQoL scores indicated good physical and mental health (mean SF12 PCS score 50.3 (SD10.3); MCS 50.2 (SD9.2)), although these declined over time. We found differences by EQ-5D sub-domains; a lower odds of pain/discomfort (OR 0.79; CI95% 0.63 to 0.99; p=0.05) and mobility problems (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.74 to 0.98; p=0.03) was reported by participants randomised to an exercise intervention compared to those receiving advice only. Findings by frailty status will be reported for this large population cohort of community-dwelling older people.

PAIN AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE BY FRAILTY STATUS IN OLDER ADULTS RECRUITED TO THE PREVENTION OF FALLS INJURY TRIAL (PREFIT)