Edwards L, Tesorero V, Zonouzi F, Santullo P, Owen P, Gordon AL. The use of frailty questionnaires in inpatients in two neurorehabilitation units in the East Midlands - A cross-sectional cohort study with follow-up to 1-year after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.
J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2024:14782715241242509. [PMID:
38578071 DOI:
10.1177/14782715241242509]
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Abstract
BACKGROUND
Frailty correlates with poor clinical outcomes and is not routinely assessed in neurorehabilitation inpatient settings.
METHODS
We recruited adults from two neurorehabilitation units. We administered six validated tools for assessing frailty and collected data around length of stay, discharge, readmission and change in rehabilitation outcome measures.
RESULTS
Seventy-eight participants aged between 31 and 84 years were recruited with a range of neurological diagnoses. Frailty prevalence ranged between 23% and 46%, depending on the scale used, with little agreement between tools. Frailty status did not correlate with age, gender, length of stay, discharge destination and rehabilitation outcome measures. One-year readmission was higher in participants rated as frail by the Frail-Non-Disabled Questionnaire, the FRESH-screening questionnaire and the Clinical Frailty Scale.
DISCUSSION
Frailty ascertainment was variable depending on the tool used. Three frailty indices predicted readmission rate at 1 year but no other outcome measures. Therefore, frailty tools may have limited utility in this clinical population.
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