The frailty dilemma. Review of the predictive accuracy of major frailty scores

Diagnostic test accuracy of self-reported frailty screening instruments in identifying community-dwelling older people at risk of frailty and pre-frailty: a systematic review protocol

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE

The question of this systematic review is: What is the diagnostic test accuracy of self-reported frailty screening instruments among community-dwelling older people against any of the following reference standard tests: the frailty phenotype, frailty index and comprehensive geriatric assessment?

Prediction of functional decline in community-dwelling older persons in general practice: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

A first step to offer community-dwelling older persons proactive care is to identify those at risk of functional decline within a year. This study investigates the predictive value of registered information, questionnaire and GP-opinion on functional decline.

METHODS

In this cohort study, embedded within the ISCOPE-trial, participants (≥75 years) completed the ISCOPE-screening questionnaire on four health domains. GPs gave their opinion on vulnerability of participants. Functional status was measured at baseline and 12 months (Groningen Activities Restriction Scale [GARS]). The outcome was functional decline (death, nursing home admission, 10% with greatest functional decline). The predictive value of pre-selected variables (age, sex, polypharmacy, multimorbidity, living situation; GPs' opinion on vulnerability, number of domains with problems [ISCOPE-score]) was compared with the area under the curves (AUC) for logistic regression models.

RESULTS

2018 of the 2211 participants (median age 82.1 years [IQR 78.8-86.5], 68.0% female, median GARS 31 [IQR 24-41]) were visited at 12 months (median GARS 34 [IQR 26-44]). 394 participants (17.8%) had functional decline (148 died, 45 nursing home admissions, 201 with greatest functional decline). The AUC for age and sex was 0.602, increasing to 0.620 (p = 0.029) with polypharmacy, multimorbidity and living situation. The GPs' opinion added more (AUC 0.672, p < 0.001) than the ISCOPE-score (AUC 0.649, p = 0.007). AUC with all variables was 0.686 (p = 0.016), and 0.643 for GPs' opinion alone.

CONCLUSIONS

The GPs' opinion and ISCOPE-score improve this prediction model for functional decline based on readily available variables. GPs could identify older patients for further assessment with their clinical judgement.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Netherlands trial register, NTR1946 . Registered 10 August 2009.

Validation of an automatically generated screening score for frailty: the care assessment need (CAN) score

BACKGROUND

Frailty is a state of vulnerability to stressors that is prevalent in older adults and is associated with higher morbidity, mortality and healthcare utilization. Multiple instruments are used to measure frailty; most are time-consuming. The Care Assessment Need (CAN) score is automatically generated from electronic health record data using a statistical model. The methodology for calculation of the CAN score is consistent with the deficit accumulation model of frailty. At a 95 percentile, the CAN score is a predictor of hospitalization and mortality in Veteran populations. The purpose of this study was to validate the CAN score as a screening tool for frailty in primary care.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional, validation study compared the CAN score with a 40-item Frailty Index reference standard based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment. We included community-dwelling male patients over age 65 from an outpatient geriatric medicine clinic. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of the CAN score.

RESULTS

184 patients over age 65 were included in the study: 97.3% male, 64.2% White, 80.9% non-Hispanic. The CGA-based Frailty Index defined 14.1% as robust, 53.3% as prefrail and 32.6% as frail. For the frail, statistical analysis demonstrated that a CAN score of 55 provides sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 91.67, 40.32, 42.64 and 90.91% respectively whereas at a score of 95 the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were 43.33, 88.81, 63.41, 77.78% respectively. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.736 (95% CI = .661-.811).

CONCLUSION

CAN score is a potential screening tool for frailty among older adults; it is generated automatically and provides acceptable diagnostic accuracy. Hence, the CAN score may be a useful tool to primary care providers for detection of frailty in their patient panels.

Associations and predictions of readmission or death in acutely admitted older medical patients using self-reported frailty and functional measures. A Danish cohort study

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether frailty in acutely admitted older medical patients, assessed by a self-report questionnaire and evaluation of functional level at discharge, was associated with readmission or death within 6 months after discharge. A second objective was to assess the predictive performance of models including frailty, functional level, and known risk factors.

METHODS

A cohort study including acutely admitted older patients 65+ from seven medical and two acute medical units. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG), and grip strength (GS) exposure variables were measured. Associations were assessed using Cox regression with first unplanned readmission or death (all-causes) as the outcome. Prediction models including the three exposure variables and known risk factors were modelled using logistic regression and C-statistics.

RESULTS

Of 1328 included patients, 50% were readmitted or died within 6 months. When adjusted for gender and age, there was an 88% higher risk of readmission or death if the TFI scores were 8-13 points compared to 0-1 points (HR 1.88, CI 1.38;2.58). Likewise, higher TUG and lower GS scores were associated with higher risk of readmission or death. The area under the curve for the prediction models ranged from 0.64 (0.60;0.68) to 0.72 (0.68;0.76).

CONCLUSION

In acutely admitted older medical patients, higher frailty assessed by TFI, TUG, and GS was associated with a higher risk of readmission or death within 6 months after discharge. The performance of the prediction models was mediocre, and the models cannot stand alone as risk stratification tools in clinical practice.

Clusters of functional domains to identify older persons at risk of disability

AIM

To date, there is no consensus on which set of variables should be used to identify older persons at risk of disability in activities of daily living. The present study aimed to: (i) evaluate how different deficits cluster in a population of community-dwelling older persons; and (ii) investigate whether the discriminative capacity of physical performance measures towards the development of disability might be improved by adding psychological, social and environmental indicators.

METHODS

Data are from 709 non-disabled older persons participating in the "Invecchiare in Chianti" study. We carried out a cluster analysis of 12 deficits in multiple functional domains, selected from the available frailty assessment instruments. Then, participants were assigned to a group, based on the obtained clusters of variables. For each group, we measured the prognostic capacity and the predictive ability for 6-year disability.

RESULTS

The analysis showed a "physical" cluster (including weight loss, reduced grip strength/gait speed/physical activity, impaired balance, environmental barriers) and a "psychosocial" cluster (e.g. living alone, depression, low income). Thus, participants were classified into four groups according to the presence of a physical and/or psychosocial cluster. Compared with the "fit" group, the relative risks of becoming disabled in the "physical," "psychosocial" and "mixed" deficit groups were 2.23 (95% CI 0.71-7.00), 1.52 (95% CI 0.62-3.75) and 6.37 (95% CI 2.83-14.33), respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for the "physical," "psychosocial" and "mixed" deficit groups were, respectively, 9% and 87%, 6% and 83%, and 27% and 94%.

CONCLUSIONS

As expected, physical and psychosocial deficits cluster predominantly into different groups. Even when both are considered simultaneously, the ability to predict incident disability is still insufficient. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 685-691.

Predictive performance of four frailty screening tools in community-dwelling elderly

BACKGROUND

This study compares the performance of four frailty screening tools in predicting relevant adverse outcome (disability, institutionalization and mortality) in community-dwelling elderly.

METHODS

Our study involved a secondary analysis of data from the FréLE cohort study. We focused on the following four frailty screening tools: the abbreviated Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (aCGA), the Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI), the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) and the Fried scale. We used the Barberger-Gateau scale to assess disability. For comparison, we determined the capacity of these tools to predict the occurrence of disability, institutionalization or death using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We also determined the threshold at which an optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity was reached. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to compare the risk of adverse outcome in the frail versus non-frail groups.

RESULTS

In total, 1643 participants were included in the mortality analyses; 1224 participants were included in the analyses of the other outcomes (74.5% of the original sample). The mean age was 77.7 years, and 48.1% of the participants were women. The prevalence of frailty in this sample ranged from 15.0% (Fried) to 52.2% (VES-13). According to the Barberger-Gateau scale, 643 (52.5%) participants were fully independent; 392 (32.0%) were mildly disabled; 118 (9.6%) were moderately disabled; and 71 (5.8%) were severely disabled. The tool with the greatest sensitivity for predicting the occurrence of disability, mortality and institutionalization was VES-13, which showed sensitivities of 91.0%, 89.7% and 92.3%, respectively. The values for the area under the curve (AUC) of the four screening tools at the proposed cut-off points ranged from 0.63 to 0.75. The odds (univariate and multivariate analysis) of developing a disability were significantly greater among the elderly identified as being frail by all four tools.

CONCLUSION

The multivariate analyses showed that the VES-13 may predict the occurrence of disability, mortality and institutionalization. However, the AUC analysis showed that even this tool did not have good discriminatory ability. These findings suggest that despite the high number of frailty screening tools described in the literature, there is still a need for a screening tool with high predictive performance.

Frailty: the missing piece of the pre- hematopoietic cell transplantation assessment?

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) represents a curative option for those afflicted with numerous hematologic malignancies and bone marrow failure syndromes. Advances and refinement of the HSCT process have resulted in increasing number of transplants performed on older patients in the recent years. Pre-transplant assessments (PTA) function to risk stratify patients prior to undergoing HSCT in an effort to predict those at higher risk of treatment-related toxicity, to inform risk/benefit assessments and to aid clinical decision making. Traditionally used risk stratification parameters such as chronologic age, comorbidity and performance status may not fully capture physical function, physiologic fitness, highlighting a need for improvement in PTA. Incorporation of frailty measurements in pre-HSCT assessments, particularly in elderly transplant candidates, may result in improving predictive ability of existing tools such as the Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Comorbidity Index and Karnofsky performance status. Here, we review existing pre-HSCT assessment tools, measures of frailty that may aid in risk stratification for patients undergoing HSCT and directions for future research using frailty in the pre-HSCT setting.

Exploring the efficiency of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator: a review

Due to rapidly aging human populations, frailty has become an essential concept, as it identifies older people who have higher risk of adverse outcomes, such as disability, institutionalization, lower quality of life, and premature death. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) is a user-friendly questionnaire based on a multidimensional approach to frailty, assessing physical, psychologic, and social aspects of human functioning. This review aims to explore the efficiency of the TFI in assessing frailty as a means to carry out research into the antecedents and consequences of frailty, and its use both in daily practice and for future intervention studies. Using a multidimensional approach to frailty, in contexts where health care professionals or researchers may have no time to interview or examine the client, we recommend employing the TFI because there is robust evidence of its reliability and validity and it is easy and quick to administer. More studies are needed to establish whether the TFI is suitable for intervention studies not only in the community, but also for specific groups such as patients in the hospital or admitted to an emergency department. We conclude that it is important to not only determine the deficits that frail older people may have, but also to assess their balancing strengths and resources. In order to be able to meet the individual needs of frail older persons, traditional and often fragmented elderly care should be developed toward a more proactive elderly care, in which frail older persons and their informal network are in charge.

Development of a Claims-based Frailty Indicator Anchored to a Well-established Frailty Phenotype

BACKGROUND

Fried and colleagues described a frailty phenotype measured in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). This phenotype is manifest when ≥3 of the following are present: low grip strength, low energy, slowed waking speed, low physical activity, or unintentional weight loss. We sought to approximate frailty phenotype using only administrative claims data to enable frailty to be assessed without physical performance measures.

STUDY DESIGN

We used the CHS cohort data linked to participants Medicare claims. The reference standard was the frailty phenotype measured at visits 5 and 9. With penalized logistic regression, we developed a parsimonious index for predicting the frailty phenotype using a linear combination of diagnoses, operationalized with claims data. We assessed the predictive validity of frailty index by examining how well it predicted common aging-related outcomes including hospitalization, disability, and death.

RESULTS

There were 4454 CHS participants from 4 clinical sites. In total, 84% were white, 58% were women and their mean age was 72 years at enrollment. Approximately 11% of the cohort was frail. The model had an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.75 to concurrently predict a frailty phenotype. This Claims-based Frailty Indicator significantly predicted death (odds ratio, 1.84), time to death (hazards ratio, 1.71), number of hospital admissions (incidence rate ratio, 1.74), and nursing home admission (odds ratio, 1.47) in models adjusted for age and sex.

CONCLUSIONS

Claims data alone can be used to classify individuals as frail and nonfrail. The Claims-based Frailty Indicator might be used in research with large datasets for confounding adjustment or risk prediction. The indicator might also be used for emergency preparedness for identification of regions enriched with frail individuals.

Perceptions and experiences of frailty interventions: quantitative and qualitative results from a survey of partners within the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA)

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) was launched by the European Commission in 2011 to promote innovation in ageing research. This paper explores the experiences of partners delivering frailty interventions within Europe, registering their programmes with the EIP-AHA. Data were collected using an online survey from 21 partners in seven countries. A mixed-method approach was used with inductive thematic analysis of free-text responses to improve data richness. Responses indicated that there was a lack of consistency between EIP-AHA partners in methods of defining, screening and measuring for frailty and pre-frailty. Open responses to survey questions about intervention facilitators, moderators and barriers were coded into two themes: working with stakeholders and project management. We concluded that EIP-AHA partners are providing interventions addressing physical, cognitive and wellbeing elements of frailty. However, there needs to be an increase in the proportion of interventions that consistently apply valid methods of screening and/or measuring frailty and pre-frailty. Most, but not all projects are targeting pre-frail older adults, suggesting an appropriate balance of prevention in a useful ‘intervention window’ but also a growing understanding that frailty at later stages is amenable to intervention. Findings suggest design manipulations to improve outcomes and adherence to interventions, specifically inclusion of a perceived benefit/reward for older adults, e.g. a social aspect or health-care promotion.

Predicting risk and outcomes for frail older adults: an umbrella review of frailty screening tools

BACKGROUND

A scoping search identified systematic reviews on diagnostic accuracy and predictive ability of frailty measures in older adults. In most cases, research was confined to specific assessment measures related to a specific clinical model.

OBJECTIVES

To summarize the best available evidence from systematic reviews in relation to reliability, validity, diagnostic accuracy and predictive ability of frailty measures in older adults.

INCLUSION CRITERIA POPULATION

Older adults aged 60 years or older recruited from community, primary care, long-term residential care and hospitals.

INDEX TEST

Available frailty measures in older adults.

REFERENCE TEST

Cardiovascular Health Study phenotype model, the Canadian Study of Health and Aging cumulative deficit model, Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment or other reference tests.

DIAGNOSIS OF INTEREST

Frailty defined as an age-related state of decreased physiological reserves characterized by an increased risk of poor clinical outcomes.

TYPES OF STUDIES

Quantitative systematic reviews.

SEARCH STRATEGY

A three-step search strategy was utilized to find systematic reviews, available in English, published between January 2001 and October 2015.

METHODOLOGICAL QUALITY

Assessed by two independent reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for systematic reviews and research synthesis.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two independent reviewers extracted data using the standardized data extraction tool designed for umbrella reviews.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Data were only presented in a narrative form due to the heterogeneity of included reviews.

RESULTS

Five reviews with a total of 227,381 participants were included in this umbrella review. Two reviews focused on reliability, validity and diagnostic accuracy; two examined predictive ability for adverse health outcomes; and one investigated validity, diagnostic accuracy and predictive ability. In total, 26 questionnaires and brief assessments and eight frailty indicators were analyzed, most of which were applied to community-dwelling older people. The Frailty Index was examined in almost all these dimensions, with the exception of reliability, and its diagnostic and predictive characteristics were shown to be satisfactory. Gait speed showed high sensitivity, but only moderate specificity, and excellent predictive ability for future disability in activities of daily living. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator was shown to be a reliable and valid measure for frailty screening, but its diagnostic accuracy was not evaluated. Screening Letter, Timed-up-and-go test and PRISMA 7 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) demonstrated high sensitivity and moderate specificity for identifying frailty. In general, low physical activity, variously measured, was one of the most powerful predictors of future decline in activities of daily living.

CONCLUSION

Only a few frailty measures seem to be demonstrably valid, reliable and diagnostically accurate, and have good predictive ability. Among them, the Frailty Index and gait speed emerged as the most useful in routine care and community settings. However, none of the included systematic reviews provided responses that met all of our research questions on their own and there is a need for studies that could fill this gap, covering all these issues within the same study. Nevertheless, it was clear that no suitable tool for assessing frailty appropriately in emergency departments was identified.

Depression and frailty: concurrent risks for adverse health outcomes

OBJECTIVES

This study used latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) to estimate the independent and joint associations between frailty and depression trajectories and likelihood of nursing home admission and falls resulting in injury.

METHODS

Data come from five waves (2004-2012) of the Health and Retirement Study. Community-dwelling individuals aged 51 and older (N = 13,495) were analyzed using LGCM. Frailty was measured using a frailty index consisting of 30 deficits. Depressive symptoms were measured using the eight-item Centers for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression scale. Adverse health outcomes included nursing home admissions and falls resulting in injury.

RESULTS

Prevalence of frailty increased over the study period (24.1%-32.1%), while the prevalence of depression was relatively constant over time (approximately 13%). Parallel process LGCM showed that more rapid increases of frailty and depressive symptoms were associated with higher odds of both nursing home admission and serious falls over time (Frailty: OR_Nursinghome = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.09-1.66; OR_Fall = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.12-2.08; Depression: OR_Nursinghome = 3.63, 95% CI: 1.29-9.97; OR_Fall = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.01-1.34). Associations between frailty and adverse outcomes were attenuated, and in some cases were no longer statistically significant, after accounting for concurrent depression.

CONCLUSION

Frailty trajectories may be important indicators of risk for nursing home admissions and falls, independent of baseline frailty status; however, concurrent depression trajectories are associated with adverse outcomes to a similar degree as frailty. Focus should be given to distilling elements of the frailty index which confer most risk for poor health outcomes.

A Scoping Review of Frailty and Acute Care in Middle-Aged and Older Individuals with Recommendations for Future Research

There is general agreement that frailty is a state of heightened vulnerability to stressors arising from impairments in multiple systems leading to declines in homeostatic reserve and resiliency, but unresolved issues persist about its detection, underlying pathophysiology, and relationship with aging, disability, and multimorbidity. A particularly challenging area is the relationship between frailty and hospitalization. Based on the deliberations of a 2014 Canadian expert consultation meeting and a scoping review of the relevant literature between 2005 and 2015, this discussion paper presents a review of the current state of knowledge on frailty in the acute care setting, including its prevalence and ability to both predict the occurrence and outcomes of hospitalization. The examination of the available evidence highlighted a number of specific clinical and research topics requiring additional study. We conclude with a series of consensus recommendations regarding future research priorities in this important area.

Network model of human aging: Frailty limits and information measures

Aging is associated with the accumulation of damage throughout a persons life. Individual health can be assessed by the Frailty Index (FI). The FI is calculated simply as the proportion f of accumulated age-related deficits relative to the total, leading to a theoretical maximum of f≤1. Observational studies have generally reported a much more stringent bound, with f≤f_{max}<1. The value of f_{max} in observational studies appears to be nonuniversal, but f_{max}≈0.7 is often reported. A previously developed network model of individual aging was unable to recover f_{max}<1 while retaining the other observed phenomenology of increasing f and mortality rates with age. We have developed a computationally accelerated network model that also allows us to tune the scale-free network exponent α. The network exponent α significantly affects the growth of mortality rates with age. However, we are only able to recover f_{max} by also introducing a deficit sensitivity parameter 1-q, which is equivalent to a false-negative rate q. Our value of q=0.3 is comparable to finite sensitivities of age-related deficits with respect to mortality that are often reported in the literature. In light of nonzero q, we use mutual information I to provide a nonparametric measure of the predictive value of the FI with respect to individual mortality. We find that I is only modestly degraded by q<1, and this degradation is mitigated when increasing number of deficits are included in the FI. We also find that the information spectrum, i.e., the mutual information of individual deficits versus connectivity, has an approximately power-law dependence that depends on the network exponent α. Mutual information I is therefore a useful tool for characterizing the network topology of aging populations.

Incorporating Persistent Pain in Phenotypic Frailty Measurement and Prediction of Adverse Health Outcomes

BACKGROUND

Frailty, a syndrome of physiological deficits, is prevalent among older adults and predicts elevated risk of adverse health outcomes. Although persistent pain predicts similar risk, it is seldom considered in frailty measurement. This article evaluated the construct and predictive validity of including persistent pain in phenotypic frailty measurement.

METHODS

Frailty and persistent pain were operationalized using data from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2012 waves). Among a subset of adults aged 65 and older (n = 3,652), we used latent class analysis to categorize frailty status and to evaluate construct validity. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we compared time to incident adverse outcomes (death, fall, hospitalization, institutionalization, and functional disability) between frailty classes determined by either including or excluding persistent pain as a frailty component.

RESULTS

In latent class models, persistent pain occurred with other frailty components in patterns consistent with a medical syndrome. Frail and intermediately frail classes determined by including persistent pain were more strongly associated with all adverse outcomes compared with frail and intermediately frail classes determined excluding persistent pain. Frail respondents had significantly greater risk of death compared with nonfrail respondents when frailty models included rather than excluded persistent pain (respectively, hazard ratio [HR] = 3.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.99-5.00 (including pain); HR = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.71-2.59 (excluding pain).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support consideration of persistent pain as a component of the frailty phenotype. Persistent pain assessment may provide an expedient method to enhance frailty measurement and improve prediction of adverse outcomes.

Linking Frailty Instruments to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health: A Systematic Review

To date, the major dilemma concerning frailty is the lack of a standardized language regarding its operationalization. Considering the demographic challenge that the world is facing, standardization of frailty identification is indeed the first step in tackling the burdensome consequences of frailty. To demonstrate this diversity in frailty assessment, the available frailty instruments have been linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF): a standardized and hierarchically coded language developed by World Health Organization regarding health conditions and their positive (functioning) and negative (disability) consequences. A systematic review on frailty instruments was carried out in PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and PsycINFO. The items of the identified frailty instruments were then linked to the ICF codes. 79 original or adapted frailty instruments were identified and categorized into single (n = 25) and multidomain (n = 54) groups. Only 5 frailty instruments (indexes) were linked to all 5 ICF components. Whereas the ICF components Body Functions and Activities and Participation were frequently linked to the frailty instruments, Body Structures, Environmental and Personal factors were sparingly represented mainly in the multidomain frailty instruments. This review highlights the heterogeneity in frailty operationalization. Environmental and personal factors should be given more thought in future frailty assessments. Being unambiguous, structured, and neutral, the ICF language allows comparing observations made with different frailty instruments. In conclusion, this systematic overview and ICF translation can be a cornerstone for future standardization of frailty assessment.

Screening for frailty: older populations and older individuals

The concept of frailty as a health dimension in old age is recent and has its origin in the development of geriatric medicine. Initially an unformulated clinical intuition, it is now defined by a diminished physiological reserve of multiple organs that exposes older individuals to increased vulnerability to stressors and a higher risk of adverse outcomes.

The operational definition of frailty, however, is still debated. From a diversity of models, two emerged in the early 2000s from epidemiological studies conducted in large population-based aging cohorts. The body of research emphasized prospective associations between a frailty phenotype and a range of adverse outcomes or between a frailty index measuring the accumulation of deficits and death. A few studies showed promising spontaneous remissions in the early stages of frailty, raising expectations for effective interventions. Transitions between frailty stages and effective interventions on frailty nevertheless remain two fields needing further investigation.

More recently, these tools have been applied as screening instruments in clinical settings to guide individual decision-making and orient treatments. New questions are raised by the use of instruments developed to screen frailty in epidemiological research for assessing individual situations. Inquiring whether frailty screening is relevant opens a Pandora’s box of doubts and debates.

There are many reasons to screen for frailty both from a public health and a clinical perspective that are only exacerbated by the current demographic evolution. Open questions remain about the feasibility of frailty screening, the properties of screening tools, the relevance of an integration of socioeconomic dimensions into screening tools, and the effectiveness of interventions targeting frailty. Fifteen years after the publication of the Fried and Rockwood landmark papers proposing operational definitions of frailty, this article presents an overview of current perspectives and issues around frailty screening in populations and in individuals.

Psychometric properties of multicomponent tools designed to assess frailty in older adults: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Frailty is widely recognised as a distinct multifactorial clinical syndrome that implies vulnerability. The links between frailty and adverse outcomes such as death and institutionalisation have been widely evidenced. There is currently no gold standard frailty assessment tool; optimizing the assessment of frailty in older people therefore remains a research priority. The objective of this systematic review is to identify existing multi-component frailty assessment tools that were specifically developed to assess frailty in adults aged ≥60 years old and to systematically and critically evaluate the reliability and validity of these tools.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was conducted using the standardised COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist to assess the methodological quality of included studies.

RESULTS

Five thousand sixty-three studies were identified in total: 73 of which were included for review. 38 multi-component frailty assessment tools were identified: Reliability and validity data were available for 21 % (8/38) of tools. Only 5 % (2/38) of the frailty assessment tools had evidence of reliability and validity that was within statistically significant parameters and of fair-excellent methodological quality (the Frailty Index-Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment [FI-CGA] and the Tilburg Frailty Indicator [TFI]).

CONCLUSIONS

The TFI has the most robust evidence of reliability and validity and has been the most extensively examined in terms of psychometric properties. However, there is insufficient evidence at present to determine the best tool for use in research and clinical practice. Further in-depth evaluation of the psychometric properties of these tools is required before they can fulfil the criteria for a gold standard assessment tool.

Emergency General Surgery in the Elderly: Too Old or Too Frail?

BACKGROUND

Assessment of operative risk in geriatric patients undergoing emergency general surgery (EGS) is challenging. Frailty is an established measure for risk assessment in elective surgical cases. Emerging literature suggests the superiority of frailty measurements to chronological age in predicting outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes in elderly patients undergoing EGS using an established Rockwood frailty index.

STUDY DESIGN

We prospectively measured preadmission frailty in all geriatric (aged 65 years and older) patients undergoing EGS at our institution during a 2-year period. Frailty index (FI) was calculated using the modified 50-variable Rockwood Preadmission FI. Frail patients were defined by FI ≥ 0.25. Outcomes measures were in-hospital complications, development of major complications, and mortality. Multivariate regression analysis was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 220 patients were enrolled, of which 82 (37%) were frail. Frailty index score did not correlate with age (R = 0.64; R(2) = 0.53; p = 0.1) and poorly correlated with American Society of Anesthesiologists score (R = 0.51; R(2) = 0.44; p = 0.045). Thirty-five percent (n = 77) of patients had postoperative complications and 19% (n = 42) had major complications. Frailty index was an independent predictor for development of in-hospital complications (odds ratio = 2.13; 95% CI, 1.09-4.16; p = 0.02) and major complications (odds ratio = 3.87; 95% CI, 1.69-8.84; p = 0.001). Age and American Society of Anesthesiologists score were not predictive of postoperative and major complications. Our FI model had 80% sensitivity, 72% specificity, and area under the curve of 0.75 in predicting complications in geriatric patients undergoing EGS. The overall mortality rate was 3.2% (n = 7) and all patients who died were frail.

CONCLUSIONS

Frailty index independently predicts postoperative complications, major complications, and hospital length of stay in elderly patients undergoing emergency general surgery. Use of FI will provide insight into the hospital course of elderly patients, allowing for identification of patients in need and more efficient allocation of hospital resources.

Should Sensory Impairment Be Considered in Frailty Assessment? A Study in the GAZEL Cohort

OBJECTIVES

The assessment of sensory difficulties is sometimes included in the screening of frailty in ageing population. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of frailty and associated risk of adverse outcomes depending on whether sensory difficulties participated in the definition of frailty.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study - GAZEL cohort.

SETTING

France.

PARTICIPANTS

The 13,128 subjects who completed a questionnaire in 2012.

MEASUREMENTS

According to the Strawbridge questionnaire, subjects were considered frail if they reported difficulties in two domains or more among physical, nutritive, cognitive and sensory domains. The risk of adverse health outcomes was assessed by using logistic regression models (hospitalisations, onset of difficulty in performing movements of everyday life) and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models (mortality).

RESULTS

Mean age was 66.8 +/- 3.4 years and 73.8% were males. The prevalence of frailty varied from 4.4 to 14.2% depending on whether the sensory domain was excluded or included. During follow-up, 182 deaths (1.4%), 479 hospitalisations (3.6%) and 703 cases of new disability (8.0%) were observed. Both definitions of frailty predicted the onset of difficulties to perform everyday movements, with 2 to 3-fold increase in the risk. The inclusion of the sensory domain in the definition made frailty predictive of hospitalisations (Odds Ratio 1.31 [1.01-1.70]) but the association with mortality was only observed when sensory difficulties were ignored (Hazard Ratio 2.28 [1.32-3.92]).

CONCLUSION

The inclusion of a sensory domain into a frailty screening instrument has a major impact in terms of prevalence and modifies the risk profile associated with frailty. In order to develop the use of frailty screening instruments in clinical practice, further researches will need to carefully evaluate the impact on risk prediction of the different domains involved.

Predictive validity of a two-step tool to map frailty in primary care

BACKGROUND

EASY-Care Two step Older people Screening (EASY-Care TOS) is a stepped approach to identify frail older people at risk for negative health outcomes in primary care, and makes use of General Practitioners' (GPs) readily-available information. We aimed to determine the predictive value of EASY-Care TOS for negative health outcomes within the year from assessment.

METHODS

A total of 587 patients of four GP practices in and around Nijmegen (The Netherlands) consented to participate in a longitudinal primary care registry based cohort study. Participants' frailty was judged by their GP following the EASY-Care TOS procedure and by a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) at baseline. After one year health outcomes of the participants were measured by reassessment with the EASY-Care TOS procedure.

RESULTS

Follow up information was available for 520 of 587 participants. In the non-frail group 9% showed any negative health outcomes (death, ADL decline, institutionalisation, too ill to undergo assessment), against 30% in the frail group (95% confidence interval of the difference (CI): 14%-28%). Area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of the EASY-Care TOS frailty judgement for a composite of negative health outcomes mentioned was 0.67 (95% CI: 0.62-0.73). Compared with discrimination on the basis of age, sex and GP practice (AUC 0.70), adding EASY-Care TOS frailty judgement increased the AUC to 0.75 (+0.05, p = 0.02). The AUC on the basis of a full CGA is almost comparable to the AUC of the model with age, sex, and frailty judgement with EASY-Care TOS: 0.76 (+0.07, p = 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

GPs applying the EASY-Care TOS procedure, where they only perform additional assessment when they judge this as necessary, can predict negative health outcomes in their older populations efficiently and almost as accurately as a complete specialist CGA.

Preoperative Cognitive and Frailty Screening in the Geriatric Surgical Patient: A Narrative Review

PURPOSE

The identification of older patients who may have deficits in cognitive or functional domains will become more pressing as increasing numbers of these patients present for preoperative evaluations. The number of older adults with deficiencies in these areas is projected to grow, and more of these patients will present for assessment in preoperative clinics with the expectation that surgeries will be performed.

METHODS

We review current outcomes data for preoperative cognitive impairment and frailty.

FINDINGS

We point to a number of directions research is taking as systems for the prevention of postoperative cognitive and functional decline are being developed. We also discuss the current status of screening and examine potential instruments that can be used in the setting of the preanesthesia clinic.

IMPLICATIONS

Clinicians may anticipate that geriatric screening tools focused on cognitive and functional domains will play a direct role in the ongoing evolution of presurgical assessment and triage.

The life course, care pathways and elements of vulnerability. A picture of health needs in a vulnerable population

OBJECTIVE

This paper presents a contextual approach to the assessment of dental health needs based on a life course approach with vulnerability integrated within the assessment of need.

BACKGROUND

Life course approaches to needs assessment,health care planning and commissioning of services are gaining popularity as there is a move away from simpler assessments of need based purely on population demographics such as age. The use of an assessment of vulnerability will be essential in the development of care pathways that are based on patient and population need rather than demand.

METHODS

As an example of the health needs of a vulnerable population data are presented on an oral health needs assessment within nursing and residential homes in the North West of England.

FINDINGS

These data serve to demonstrate the challenges of the disease burden within such a population but also the complexities of commissioning and delivering services to this group of patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Care pathways designed to assist such patients should consider not only prevention and treatment modalities but also the means of implementing such therapies in varying settings and utilising the whole dental team.

The Seattle Care Pathway for securing oral health in older patients

There is a need for a structured, evidence based approach to care for older dental patients. The following article describes the development of the Seattle Care Pathway based upon a workshop held in 2013. An overview is provided on the key issues of older persons dental care including the demography shift, the concept of frailty, the need for effective prevention and treatment to be linked to levels of dependency and the need for a varied and well educated work force. The pathway is presented in tabular form and further illustrated by the examples in the form of clinical scenarios. The pathway is an evidence based, pragmatic approach to care designed to be globally applicable but flexible enough to be adapted for local needs and circumstances. Research will be required to evaluate the pathways application to this important group of patients.

Predictive performance of four frailty measures in an older Australian population

BACKGROUND

There are several different frailty measures available for identifying the frail elderly. However, their predictive performance in an Australian population has not been examined.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the predictive performance of four internationally validated frailty measures in an older Australian population.

METHODS

A retrospective study in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA) with 2,087 participants. Frailty was measured at baseline using frailty phenotype (FP), simplified frailty phenotype (SFP), frailty index (FI) and prognostic frailty score (PFS). Odds ratios (OR) were calculated to measure the association between frailty and outcomes at Wave 3 including mortality, hospitalisation, nursing home admission, fall and a combination of all outcomes. Predictive performance was measured by assessing sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) and likelihood ratio (LR). Area under the curve (AUC) of dichotomised and the multilevel or continuous model of the measures was examined.

RESULTS

Prevalence of frailty varied from 2% up to 49% between the measures. Frailty was significantly associated with an increased risk of any outcome, OR (95% confidence interval) for FP: 1.9 (1.4-2.8), SFP: 3.6 (1.5-8.8), FI: 3.4 (2.7-4.3) and PFS: 2.3 (1.8-2.8). PFS had high sensitivity across all outcomes (sensitivity: 55.2-77.1%). The PPV for any outcome was highest for SFP and FI (70.8 and 69.7%, respectively). Only FI had acceptable accuracy in predicting outcomes, AUC: 0.59-0.70.

CONCLUSIONS

Being identified as frail by any of the four measures was associated with an increased risk of outcomes; however, their predictive accuracy varied.

Predictive validity of a frailty measure (GFI) and a case complexity measure (IM-E-SA) on healthcare costs in an elderly population

OBJECTIVES

Measures of frailty (Groningen Frailty Indicator, GFI) and case complexity (INTERMED for the Elderly, IM-E-SA) may assist healthcare professionals to allocate healthcare resources. Both instruments have been evaluated with good psychometric properties. Limited evidence has been published about their predictive validity. Thus, our aim is to evaluate the predictive validity of both instruments on healthcare costs.

METHODS

Multivariate linear regression models were developed to estimate associations between the predictors frailty (GFI) and/or case complexity (IM-E-SA) and the healthcare costs (in € log transformed) in the following year. All models were adjusted for demographics and the presence of morbidity.

RESULTS

In the multivariate regression analyses the continuous scores of the GFI and IM-E-SA remained significant predictors for total healthcare costs. Adjusted βs for GFI and IM-E-SA were respectively 0.14 (95% CI 0.10-0.18) and 0.06 (95% CI 0.04-0.07). The corresponding explained variance (R(2)) for both models was 0.40. Frailty remained a significant predictor of long-term care costs (adjusted β 0.13 [95% CI 0.09-0.16]), while case complexity was a significant predictor of curative care costs (adjusted β 0.03 [95% CI 0.02-0.05]).

CONCLUSIONS

The GFI and IM-E-SA both accurately predict total healthcare costs in the following year.

Are Performance Measures Necessary to Predict Loss of Independence in Elderly People?

BACKGROUND

The frailty phenotype (FP) proposed by Fried and colleagues (Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J, et al.; Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56:M146-M156.) requires the administration of performance tests (gait speed, handgrip strength) not always feasible in routine clinical practice. Furthermore, the discriminative capacity of the instrument has been rarely investigated. Aim of this study was to evaluate the discriminative capacity of the FP and compare it with a modified version including only anamnestic information.

METHODS

Data are from 890 participants of the InCHIANTI study without impairment in activities of daily living (ADL) at baseline (mean age 74 years, women 55%). Frailty was defined by (a) the presence of ≥ 3 criteria of the FP, and (b) having ≥ 2 criteria of an anamnestic FP (AFP), not including gait speed and handgrip strength. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) were used to evaluate the discriminative capacity of both definitions for incident disability (ie, loss of at least one ADL), incidence of "accelerated" disability (loss of >2 ADL) over a 6-year follow-up, and 5-years mortality.

RESULTS

FP and AFP yielded a frailty prevalence of 6.4% and 6.5%, respectively; only 32 patients were considered frail by both indices (kappa: .53). For incident disability, FP showed sensitivity = .194, specificity = .963, PPV = .400, and NPV = .903. Similarly, AFP had sensitivity = .129, specificity = .949, PPV = .245, and NPV = .894. Consistent results were found for accelerated disability and mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

In our sample, both FP and AFP showed low sensitivity in identifying older people who would die or develop disability, but they could well discriminate people who would not experience adverse outcomes.

Short- and longer-term predictive capacity of the Multidimensional Prognostic Index: The timing of the assessment is of no consequence

BACKGROUND

Several studies have tested the ability of the Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) to predict mortality for acute elderly patients admitted to hospital. We compared the reliability of MPI scores obtained both on admission to, and at discharge from hospital. We tested MPI performance in predicting short- and longer-term mortality grouped into three risk groups and according to single MPI scores.

METHODS

A longitudinal prospective study was conducted on 699 elderly patients admitted to the Geriatric Unit at Padua General Hospital. MPI scores were obtained on admission and at discharge. In-hospital and one-year mortality was recorded. Adjusted Cox's regression models were used to assess the prognostic value of the MPI scores.

RESULTS

691 were included in the study: 459 (66.4%) women and 232 (33.6%) men, mean age=85.2 ± 7.0 years. Patients were grouped as: low risk MPI 12.5%; moderate risk MPI 28.6%; severe risk MPI 58.9%. The cumulative in-hospital mortality rate was 7.4%. In the adjusted model, only MPI score (not MPI risk group) was significantly associated with in-hospital death ([HR]=1.22, 95%CI 1.07-1.39). 1-Year crude mortality rate: 39.2%. The patients' MPI scores at admission and at discharge were equally predictive of death (adjusted HR of MPI on admission 1.20 [1.15-1.27], p<0.0001; at discharge 1.24 [1.18-1.30], p<0.0001). The performance (AUC) of the MPI score on admission and at discharge proved much the same.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirmed the value of the MPI in predicting mortality for acute elderly patients. Grouping MPI scores into risk levels may not be appropriate when applied to hospitalized acute geriatric patients. The prognostic value of MPI scores was confirmed only for MPI value ≥0.68. Judging from our study, the timing of the assessment during a patient's hospital stay (on admission or at discharge) may be irrelevant for longer-term prognostic purposes.

What are frailty instruments for?

Frailty is measured to understand its nature and biology, to aid diagnosis and care planning, to measure outcomes and to stratify risk. Such goals oblige two types of frailty measures - for screening and for assessment - and recognition that not all measures will serve all purposes. When the goal is broad identification of people at risk, a dichotomised approach (frailty is present or absent ) is appropriate. If, however, the degree of risk varies, strategies to test grades of frailty will be required. Frailty measures should be implemented and evaluated in relation to the goal for their use.

[Screening the risk for functional loss: a basic strategy for organizing the elderly health care network]

From a critical analysis of experiments in the use of screening tools for functional loss in the elderly, it was observed that the main motivation to develop and implement a screening instrument is to improve health care for the frail elderly or those at risk of functional loss and repeated hospital admissions. The instruments are preferably short questionnaires with no more than 16 self-reported questions. The main intervention performed after screening was monitoring the elderly by a specialized nursing service that, when necessary, referring them to the medical service. The results of this approach included the reduction of functional loss, hospital admissions, deaths, lower health expenses and greater consumer satisfaction.

Instruments to assess sarcopenia and physical frailty in older people living in a community (care) setting: similarities and discrepancies

OBJECTIVES

Both sarcopenia and physical frailty are geriatric syndromes causing loss of functionality and independence. This study explored the association between sarcopenia and physical frailty and the overlap of their criteria in older people living in different community (care) settings. Moreover, it investigated the concurrent validity of the FRAIL scale to assess physical frailty, by comparison with the widely used Fried criteria.

DESIGN

Data were retrieved from the cross-sectional Maastricht Sarcopenia Study (MaSS).

SETTING

The study was undertaken in different community care settings in an urban area (Maastricht) in the south of the Netherlands.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 65 years or older, gave written informed consent, were able to understand Dutch language, and were not wheelchair bound or bedridden.

INTERVENTION

Not applicable.

MEASUREMENTS

Sarcopenia was identified using the algorithm of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People. Physical frailty was assessed by the Fried criteria and by the FRAIL scale. Logistic regression was performed to assess the association between sarcopenia and physical frailty measured by the Fried criteria. Spearman correlation was performed to assess the concurrent validity of the FRAIL scale compared with the Fried criteria.

RESULTS

Data from 227 participants, mean age 74.9 years, were analyzed. Sarcopenia was identified in 23.3% of the participants, when using the cutoff levels for moderate sarcopenia. Physical frailty was identified in 8.4% (≥3 Fried criteria) and 9.3% (≥3 FRAIL scale criteria) of the study population. Sarcopenia and physical frailty were significantly associated (P = .022). Frail older people were more likely to be sarcopenic than those who were not frail. In older people who were not frail, the risk of having sarcopenia increased with age. Next to poor grip strength (78.9%) and slow gait speed (89.5%), poor performance in other functional tests was common in frail older people. The 2 physical frailty scales were significantly correlated (r = 0.617, P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Sarcopenia and physical frailty were associated and partly overlap, especially on parameters of impaired physical function. Some evidence for concurrent validity between the FRAIL scale and Fried criteria was found. Future research should elicit the value of combining sarcopenia and frailty measures in preventing disability and other negative health outcomes.

The physical phenotype of frailty for risk stratification of older medical inpatients

OBJECTIVES

To determine the usefulness of physical phenotype of frailty, cognitive impairment, and serum albumin for risk stratification of elderly medical impatients.

DESIGN

Prospective, observational cohort study.

SETTING

A general internal medicine unit of a university hospital in Italy.

PARTICIPANTS

Inpatients with an average age of 80.8 ± 7.5 yr (N = 470).

MEASUREMENTS

Frailty was defined using the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Index, a parsimonious version of the physical phenotype (two of the following markers: weight loss, inability to rise five times from a chair, and exhaustion). Two frailty markers from non-physical dimensions were also evaluated: cognitive impairment (Mini-Cog score < 3) and low serum albumin on ward admission (< 3,5 gr/dl). Logistic regression adjusted for preadmission and admission-related confounders was used to investigate whether the physical phenotype of frailty and the two non-physical markers were associated with ward length of stay and unfavorable discharge (death plus any other ward discharge disposition different from direct return home). Areas Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUCs) and Likelihood Ratios (LRs) were used for evaluation of discriminatory ability and clinical usefulness of significant predictors.

RESULTS

The physical phenotype of frailty was associated with both study outcomes (p < 0.010) but the association was mainly mediated by chair standing ability. Non-physical markers were associated only with unfavourable discharge (p < 0.001). All of these predictors, either alone or in combination, had poor discriminatory ability (AUCs < 0.70) and poor clinical usefulness (+LRs near 1) for the study outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The physical phenotype of frailty appears of limited clinical use for risk stratification of older medical inpatients. Combination with markers from non-physical dimensions does not improve its prognostic abilities.

Screening for frailty in primary care: a systematic review of the psychometric properties of the frailty index in community-dwelling older people

Background

To better accommodate for the complex care needs of frail, older people, general practitioners must be capable of easily identifying frailty in daily clinical practice, for example, by using the frailty index (FI). To explore whether the FI is a valid and adequate screening instrument for primary care, we conducted a systematic review of its psychometric properties.

Methods

We searched the Cochrane, PubMed and Embase databases and included original studies focusing on the criterion validity, construct validity and responsiveness of the FI when applied in community-dwelling older people. We evaluated the quality of the studies included using the Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool. This systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA statement.

Results

Of the twenty studies identified, eighteen reported on FIs derived from research data, one reported upon an FI derived from an administrative database of home-care clients, and one reported upon an FI derived from routine primary care data. In general, the FI showed good criterion and construct validity but lacked studies on responsiveness. When compared with studies that used data gathered for research purposes, there are indications that the FI mean score and range might be different in datasets using routine primary care data; however, this finding needs further investigation.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the FI is a valid frailty screening instrument. However, further research using routine Electronic Medical Record data is necessary to investigate whether the psychometric properties of the FI are generalizable to a primary care setting and to facilitate its interpretation and implementation in daily clinical practice.

Trial registration

PROSPERO systematic review register number: CRD42013003737.

Sex differences in the construct overlap of frailty and depression: evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

OBJECTIVES

To determine the degree of diagnostic overlap between frailty and depression and to investigate whether sex differences in symptom endorsement influence this overlap.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional latent class analysis.

SETTING

Data were from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of health characteristics of older adults.

PARTICIPANTS

Community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older completing a general health questionnaire and consenting to physical measurements (N = 3,665).

MEASUREMENTS

Frailty was measured using criteria developed in the Cardiovascular Health Study, and depressive symptoms were measured using the eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.

RESULTS

Frailty and depression were best modeled as two distinct but highly correlated constructs with three and four classes of symptom response, respectively. Measurement overlap was high in men and women. Approximately 73% of individuals with severe depressive symptoms and 86% with primarily somatic depressive symptoms were categorized as concurrently frail. The degree of construct overlap between depression and frailty did not significantly vary according to sex, but women were significantly more likely to endorse all frailty and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Measures of depression and frailty identify substantially overlapping populations of older men and women. More-frequent endorsement of depressive symptoms, but not differential endorsement of somatic symptoms, may contribute to the higher prevalence of frailty in women. The symptom of exhaustion is particularly important to the correlation between these two conditions. Findings will inform clinician and researcher efforts to refine the definition of geriatric syndromes such as frailty and to develop effective interventions.

Prevalence of frailty and its ability to predict in hospital delirium, falls, and 6-month mortality in hospitalized older patients

Background

The prevalence and significance of frailty are seldom studied in hospitalized patients. Aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of frailty and to determine the extent that frailty predicts delirium, falls and mortality in hospitalized older patients.

Methods

In a prospective study of 220 older patients, frailty was determined using the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) and the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) frailty index. Patients were classified as nonfrail, prefrail, and frail, according to the specific criteria. Covariates included clinical and laboratory parameters. Outcome variables included in hospital delirium and falls, and 6-month mortality.

Results

The CHS frailty index was available in all 220 patients, of which 1.5% were classified as being nonfrail, 58.5% as prefrail, and 40% as frail. The SOF frailty index was available in 204 patients, of which 16% were classified as being nonfrail, 51.5% as prefrail, and 32.5% as frail. Frailty, as identified by the CHS and SOF indexes, was a significant risk factor for 6-month mortality. However, after adjustment for multiple risk factors, frailty remained a strong independent risk factor only for the model with the CHS index (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.7-12.8). Frailty (identified by CHS and SOF indexes) was not found to be a risk factor for delirium or falls.

Conclusions

Frailty, as measured by the CHS index, is an independent risk factor for 6-month mortality. The CHS and the SOF indexes have limited value as risk assessment tools for specific geriatric syndromes (e.g., falls and delirium) in hospitalized older patients.

The risk of adverse outcomes in hospitalized older patients in relation to a frailty index based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment

BACKGROUND

prognostication for frail older adults is complex, especially when they become seriously ill.

OBJECTIVES

to test the measurement properties, especially the predictive validity, of a frailty index based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA) in an acute care setting in relation to the risk of death, length of stay and discharge destination.

DESIGN AND SETTING

prospective cohort study. Inpatient medical units in a teaching, acute care hospital.

SUBJECTS

individuals on inpatient medical units in a hospital, n = 752, aged 75+ years, were evaluated on their first hospital day; to test reliability, a subsample (n = 231) was seen again on Day 3.

MEASUREMENTS

all frailty data collected routinely as part of a CGA were used to create the FI-CGA. Mortality data were reviewed from hospital records, claims data, Social Security Death Index and interviews with Discharge Managers.

RESULTS

thirty-day mortality was 93 (12.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 10-15%) of whom 52 died in hospital. The risk of dying increased with each 0.01 increment in the FI-CGA: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.05, (95% CI = 1.04-1.07). People who were discharged home had the lowest admitting mean FI-CGA = 0.38 (±standard deviation 0.11) compared with those who died, FI-CGA = 0.51 (±0.12) or were discharged to nursing home, FI-CGA = 0.49 (±0.11). Likewise, increasing FI-CGA values on admission were significantly associated with a longer length of hospital stay.

CONCLUSIONS

frailty, measured by the FI-CGA, was independently associated with a higher risk of death and other adverse outcomes in older people admitted to an acute care hospital.

Frailty consensus: a call to action

Frailty is a clinical state in which there is an increase in an individual's vulnerability for developing increased dependency and/or mortality when exposed to a stressor. Frailty can occur as the result of a range of diseases and medical conditions. A consensus group consisting of delegates from 6 major international, European, and US societies created 4 major consensus points on a specific form of frailty: physical frailty. 1. Physical frailty is an important medical syndrome. The group defined physical frailty as "a medical syndrome with multiple causes and contributors that is characterized by diminished strength, endurance, and reduced physiologic function that increases an individual's vulnerability for developing increased dependency and/or death." 2. Physical frailty can potentially be prevented or treated with specific modalities, such as exercise, protein-calorie supplementation, vitamin D, and reduction of polypharmacy. 3. Simple, rapid screening tests have been developed and validated, such as the simple FRAIL scale, to allow physicians to objectively recognize frail persons. 4. For the purposes of optimally managing individuals with physical frailty, all persons older than 70 years and all individuals with significant weight loss (>5%) due to chronic disease should be screened for frailty.

Patterns of frailty in older adults: comparing results from higher and lower income countries using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE)

We use the method of deficit accumulation to describe prevalent and incident levels of frailty in community-dwelling older persons and compare prevalence rates in higher income countries in Europe, to prevalence rates in six lower income countries. Two multi-country data collection efforts, SHARE and SAGE, provide nationally representative samples of adults aged 50 years and older. Forty items were used to construct the frailty index in each data set. Our study shows that the level of frailty was distributed along the socioeconomic gradient in both higher and lower income countries such that those individuals with less education and income were more likely to be frail. Frailty increased with age and women were more likely to be frail in most countries. Across samples we find that the level of frailty was higher in the higher income countries than in the lower income countries.

Effectiveness of interdisciplinary primary care approach to reduce disability in community dwelling frail older people: cluster randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether an interdisciplinary primary care approach for community dwelling frail older people is more effective than usual care in reducing disability and preventing (further) functional decline.

DESIGN

Cluster randomised controlled trial.

SETTING

12 general practices in the south of the Netherlands

PARTICIPANTS

346 frail older people (score ≥ 5 on Groningen Frailty Indicator) were included; 270 (78%) completed the study.

INTERVENTIONS

General practices were randomised to the intervention or control group. Practices in the control group delivered care as usual. Practices in the intervention group implemented the "Prevention of Care" (PoC) approach, in which frail older people received a multidimensional assessment and interdisciplinary care based on a tailor made treatment plan and regular evaluation and follow-up.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome was disability, assessed at 24 months by means of the Groningen Activity Restriction Scale. Secondary outcomes were depressive symptomatology, social support interactions, fear of falling, and social participation. Outcomes were measured at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24 months' follow-up.

RESULTS

193 older people in the intervention group (six practices) received the PoC approach; 153 older people in the control group (six practices) received care as usual. Follow-up rates for patients were 91% (n=316) at six months, 86% (n=298) at 12 months, and 78% (n=270) at 24 months. Mixed model multilevel analyses showed no significant differences between the two groups with regard to disability (primary outcome) and secondary outcomes. Pre-planned subgroup analyses confirmed these results.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found no evidence for the effectiveness of the PoC approach. The study contributes to the emerging body of evidence that community based care in frail older people is a challenging task. More research in this field is needed.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN31954692.

The SHARE operationalized frailty phenotype: a comparison of two approaches

PURPOSE

the phenotype defined by Fried et al. is one of the main operationalizations of frailty. Santos-Eggimann et al. pioneered the adaptation of the phenotype criteria to the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, http://www.share-project.org/). Using the adapted criteria, Romero-Ortuno et al. created and validated the SHARE Frailty Instrument for Primary Care (SHARE-FI). In SHARE-FI, the cut-offs for the phenotypic categories (i.e. non-frail, pre-frail and frail) are automatically derived from latent variable modelling, while Fried et al. (and also Santos-Eggimann et al.) use a rule based on the number of criteria present (Ncriteria): ≥ 3: frail; 1 or 2: pre-frail; 0: non-frail. The aim of the present study was to compare the mortality prediction of these two different approaches (latent variable modelling in SHARE-FI vs. Ncriteria in Santos-Eggimann et al.).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

the subjects were 15,420 women and 12,742 men from the first wave of SHARE. A correspondence analysis was used to assess the degree of agreement between phenotypic classifications. The ability of the continuous measures (Ncriteria and SHARE-FI score) to predict mortality (mean follow-up of 2.4 years) was compared using receiver operating characteristic plots and areas under the curve (AUC).

RESULTS

in both women and men, there was a high degree of correspondence between phenotypic categories. The two continuous measures performed similarly as mortality predictors (women: SHARE-FI-AUC = 0.77; Ncriteria-AUC = 0.75. Men: SHARE-FI-AUC = 0.76; Ncriteria-AUC = 0.72).

CONCLUSION

the two approaches to the SHARE operationalized frailty phenotype performed equally well to predict mortality.

Measures of frailty in population-based studies: an overview

Background

Although research productivity in the field of frailty has risen exponentially in recent years, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the measurement of this syndrome. This overview offers three services: first, we provide a comprehensive catalogue of current frailty measures; second, we evaluate their reliability and validity; third, we report on their popularity of use.

Methods

In order to identify relevant publications, we searched MEDLINE (from its inception in 1948 to May 2011); scrutinized the reference sections of the retrieved articles; and consulted our own files. An indicator of the frequency of use of each frailty instrument was based on the number of times it had been utilized by investigators other than the originators.

Results

Of the initially retrieved 2,166 papers, 27 original articles described separate frailty scales. The number (range: 1 to 38) and type of items (range of domains: physical functioning, disability, disease, sensory impairment, cognition, nutrition, mood, and social support) included in the frailty instruments varied widely. Reliability and validity had been examined in only 26% (7/27) of the instruments. The predictive validity of these scales for mortality varied: for instance, hazard ratios/odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for mortality risk for frail relative to non-frail people ranged from 1.21 (0.78; 1.87) to 6.03 (3.00; 12.08) for the Phenotype of Frailty and 1.57 (1.41; 1.74) to 10.53 (7.06; 15.70) for the Frailty Index. Among the 150 papers which we found to have used at least one of the 27 frailty instruments, 69% (n = 104) reported on the Phenotype of Frailty, 12% (n = 18) on the Frailty Index, and 19% (n = 28) on one of the remaining 25 instruments.

Conclusions

Although there are numerous frailty scales currently in use, reliability and validity have rarely been examined. The most evaluated and frequently used measure is the Phenotype of Frailty.

Identifying frailty: do the Frailty Index and Groningen Frailty Indicator cover different clinical perspectives? a cross-sectional study

Background

Early identification of frailty is important for proactive primary care. Currently, however, there is no consensus on which measure to use. Therefore, we examined whether a Frailty Index (FI), based on ICPC-coded primary care data, and the Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) questionnaire identify the same older people as frail.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study of 1,580 patients aged ≥ 60 years in a Dutch primary care center. Patients received a GFI questionnaire and were surveyed on their baseline characteristics. Frailty-screening software calculated their FI score. The GFI and FI scores were compared as continuous and dichotomised measures.

Results

FI data were available for 1549 patients (98%). 663 patients (42%) returned their GFI questionnaire. Complete GFI and FI scores were available for 638 patients (40.4%), mean age 73.4 years, 52.8% female. There was a positive correlation between the GFI and the FI (Pearson’s correlation coefficient 0.544). Using dichotomised scores, 84.3% of patients with a low FI score also had a low GFI score. In patients with a high FI score, 55.1% also had a high GFI score. A continuous FI score accurately predicted a dichotomised GFI score (AUC 0.78, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.82). Being widowed or divorced was an independent predictor of both a high GFI score in patients with a low FI score, and a high FI score in patients with a low GFI score.

Conclusions

The FI and the GFI moderately overlap in identifying frailty in community-dwelling older patients. To provide optimal proactive primary care, we suggest an initial FI screening in routine healthcare data, followed by a GFI questionnaire for patients with a high FI score or otherwise at high risk as the preferred two-step frailty screening process in primary care.

Comparison of results of coronary artery bypass grafting versus percutaneous coronary intervention in octogenarians

The aim of the present study was to compare the outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients aged ≥80 years. The present analysis included 274 patients who underwent isolated CABG and 393 patients who underwent PCI. The patients undergoing PCI had a greater prevalence of a history of cardiac surgery and recent myocardial infarction and had more frequently undergone emergency revascularization. Patients undergoing CABG had a significantly greater prevalence of 3-vessel coronary artery disease. The unadjusted 30-day mortality rate was 8.8% after CABG and 7.4% after PCI (p = 0.514). However, on multivariate analysis, CABG was associated with a significantly increased risk of 30-day mortality (odds ratio 2.246, 95% confidence interval 1.141 to 4.422). The unadjusted overall intermediate survival was significantly poorer after PCI (at 5 years, CABG 72.2% vs PCI 59.5%, p = 0.004), but this was not confirmed on multivariate analysis. PCI and CABG had similar intermediate survival rates when adjusted for propensity score (p = 0.698), a finding confirmed by the analysis of 130 propensity score-matched pairs (at 5 years, CABG 66.4% vs PCI 58.9%, p = 0.730). In conclusion, the survival of patients aged ≥80 years undergoing CABG is excellent, and the suboptimal survival after PCI seems to be related to the disproportionately greater risk of these patients compared to those undergoing CABG. When adjusted for important clinical variables, PCI and CABG achieved similar intermediate results.