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The assessment of frailty in older people in acute care
Author(s) -
Hilmer Sarah N,
Perera Vidya,
Mitchell Sarah,
Murnion Bridin P,
Dent Jonathan,
Bajorek Beata,
Matthews Slade,
Rolfson Darryl B
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2009.00367.x
Subject(s) - medicine , comorbidity , charlson comorbidity index , geriatrics , gerontology , acute care , cohort , mini–mental state examination , cognitive impairment , activities of daily living , physical therapy , cognition , psychiatry , health care , economics , economic growth
Aim: Develop a measure of frailty for older acute inpatients to be performed by non‐geriatricians. Method: The Reported Edmonton Frail Scale (REFS) was adapted from the Edmonton Frail Scale for use with Australian acute inpatients. With acute patients aged over 70 years admitted to an Australian teaching hospital, we validated REFS against the Geriatrician's Clinical Impression of Frailty (GCIF), measures of cognition, comorbidity and function, and assessed inter‐rater reliability. Results: REFS was moderately correlated with GCIF ( n = 105, R = 0.61, P < 0.01), Mini‐Mental State Examination impairment ( n = 61, R = 0.49, P < 0.001), Charlson Comorbidity Index ( n = 59, R = 0.51, P < 0.001) and Katz Daily Living Scale ( n = 59, R = 0.51, P < 0.001). Inter‐rater reliability of REFS administered by two researchers without medical training was excellent (kappa = 0.84, n = 31). Conclusion: In this cohort of older acute inpatients, REFS is a valid, reliable test of frailty, and may be a valuable research tool to assess the impact of frailty on prognosis and response to therapy.