Abstract: Objective To investigate the frailty status, latent profiles, and influencing factors in elderly patients with diabetes. Methods A consecutive sampling method was used to enroll elderly inpatients with diabetes from the endocrinology department of a three A grade hospital in Baoding city between March and October 2023. Data were collected using standardized instruments: General Information Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI), Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire(DSMQ), Tilburg Frailty Indicator(TFI), Shortform Mini-Nutritional Assessment(MNA-SF), Barthel Index(BI), and Geriatric Depression Scale-15(GDS-15). Latent profile analysis was performed using Mplus 8.3 to classify frailty subtypes, while SPSS 24.0 was employed for univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results Among 379 participants, the frailty prevalence was 51.18%. Three latent frailty profiles were identified: “low frailty”(52.77%), “moderate frailty”(26.65%), and “high frailty”(20.58%). Patients with stronger self-care ability, better activities of daily living, and lower HbA1c levels tended to cluster in the “low frailty” group. Those with sleep disorders or no alcohol consumption history were more likely to be categorized as “moderate frailty,” while individuals with depressive symptoms and lower exercise frequency predominantly fell into the “high frailty” group. Conclusion Frailty in elderly diabetic patients demonstrates heterogeneity with distinct influencing factors across latent profiles. These findings provide a foundation for developing tailored intervention strategies based on frailty subtypes.

Key words: elderly patients with diabetes, frailty, latent profile analysis, influencing factors