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.
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.
Authors: Alexander Bennett; Danijela Gnjidic; Mark Gillett; Peter Carroll; Slade Matthews; Kristina Johnell; Johan Fastbom; Sarah Hilmer Journal: Drugs Aging Date: 2014-03 Impact factor: 3.923
Authors: Ali Shami; Maura Brennan; Peter St Marie; Peter K Lindenauer; Mihaela S Stefan Journal: Arch Gerontol Geriatr Date: 2019-07-18 Impact factor: 3.250
Authors: Claire Johnston; Sarah N Hilmer; Andrew J McLachlan; Slade T Matthews; Peter R Carroll; Carl M Kirkpatrick Journal: Eur J Clin Pharmacol Date: 2014-02-14 Impact factor: 2.953
Authors: Francisco J Martín-Sánchez; Michael Christ; Òscar Miró; W Frank Peacock; John J McMurray; Héctor Bueno; Alan S Maisel; Louise Cullen; Martin R Cowie; Salvatore Di Somma; Elke Platz; Josep Masip; Uwe Zeymer; Christiaan Vrints; Susanna Price; Christian Mueller Journal: Int J Cardiol Date: 2016-07-18 Impact factor: 4.164