Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan 6:14:1.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-14-1.

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

Etienne Joosten  1 , Mathias Demuynck, Elke Detroyer, Koen Milisen
Affiliations

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

Etienne Joosten et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J, Newman AB, Hirsch C, Gottdiener J, Seeman T, Tracy R, Kop WJ, Burke G, McBurnie MA. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;14:M146–M156. doi: 10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clegg A, Young J, Lliffe S, Rikkert MO, Rockwood K. Frailty in elderly people. Lancet. 2013;14:752–762. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62167-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rodriguez-Manas L, Féart C, Mann G, Vina J, Chatterji S, Chodzko-Zajko W, Gonzalez-Colaco H, Bergman H, Carcaillon L, Nicholson C, Scuteri A, Sinclair A, Pelaez M, Van der Cammen T, Beland F, Bickenbach J, Delamarche P, Ferrucci L, Fried LP, Gutierrez-Robledo LM, Rockwood K, Artalejo FR, Serviddio G, Vega E. Searching for an operational definition of frailty: a Delphi method based consensus statement. The frailty operative definition-consensus conference project. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gls119. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Santos-Eggimann B, Cuénoud P, Spagnoli J, Junod J. Prevalence of frailty in middle-aged and older community-dwelling Europeans living in 10 countries. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009;14:675–681. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glp012. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collard RM, Boter H, Schoevers RA, Oude Voshaar RC. Prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older persons: a systematic review. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012;14:1487–1489. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.04054.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types