Frailty markers predicting emergency department visits in a community-dwelling sample of vulnerable seniors in Montreal.

Frailty puts individuals at increased risk for poor health outcomes. Elderly individuals use a disproportionate amount of emergency department (ED) resources. To investigate the relationship between frailty markers and the effect on ED use by community-dwelling seniors, we conducted a secondary analysis of a 22-month prospective randomized control trial in Montreal, Canada, using the Service Intégrés pour les Personnes Âgées en Perte d'Autonomie (SIPA) database. We assessed a sample of 565 individuals using five frailty markers: physical activity, strength, cognition, energy, and mobility. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess for potential relationship between frailty markers and ED visits. The findings revealed that 70 per cent of the participants had at least three frailty markers. No relationship was found between frailty markers and ED visits. These results suggest that in severely functionally disabled, community-dwelling elderly, the presence of frailty markers does not appear to predict ED visits.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes