Background: The well-being of the older persons has been widely concerned with the aging of the world population. However frailty has gradually become a major problem affecting their quality of life, especially for the older persons in the community. It is usually a physical phenotype composed of weight loss, fatigue, physical inactivity, slowness and frailty, which seriously affects the mental and physical health of the old persons, thus affecting their life, especially their sleep quality. Although it also brings some difficulties to nursing work, nurses should pay more attention to their frailty and sleep.

Aim: The aim of the study was to describe the status of frailty and sleep quality, and to examine the relationship between frailty and sleep quality, among older persons in a community of Lishui, China.

Method: This study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and correlation study. In August and September 2020, questionnaires were sent to a sample of Lishui community residents aged 60 and above (n = 210). The questionnaire included general social characteristics, Pittsburgh sleep quality index and Tilburg frailty indicator. Descriptive analysis, frequency analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient analysis were used to analyze the data. 

Result: The mean score of frailty of the old persons in Lishui community was 3.49 and for the sleep quality was 5.79, respectively. The scores were lower, which means that they had lower degree of frailty and better sleep quality. Sleep latency and daytime dysfunction had higher scores in sleep quality. Physical frailty and psychological frailty were positively correlated with sleep quality.

Conclusion: Compared with the relevant research results of other cities in China, the frailty of the older persons in one community in Lishui is in the middle level and the sleep quality is at a high level. By reasonably regulating of Sleep latency, sleep disturbance and sleep medicine use related factors, their frailty condition and sleep quality can be improved.