Reliability of fr-AGILE tool to evaluate multidimensional frailty in hospital settings for older adults with COVID-19

Abstract

Aims: The study assesses the reliability of fr-AGILE, a validated rapid tool used for the evaluation of multidimensional frailty in older adults hospitalized with COVID-19. Methods: Two different staff members independently assessed the presence of frailty in 144 patients aged ≥ 65 years affected by COVID-19 using the fr-AGILE tool. The internal consistency of fr-AGILE was evaluated by examining the item-total correlations and the Kuder–Richardson (KR) formula. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated using linear weighted kappa. Results: Multidimensional frailty severity increases with age and is associated to higher use of non-invasive ventilation (p = 0.025), total severity score on chest tomography (p = 0.001) and in-hospital mortality (p = 0.032). Fr-AGILE showed good internal consistency (KR-20 = 0.742) and excellent inter-rater reliability (weighted kappa = 0.752 and 0.878 for frailty score and frailty degree, respectively). Conclusions: fr-AGILE tool can quickly identify and quantify multidimensional frailty in hospital settings for older patient affected by COVID-19.