Prevalence of Frailty in Nursing Home Residents According to Various Diagnostic Tools

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although the theoretical foundations of frailty are well established in the literature, it remains an evolving concept lacking any unique definition or diagnostic criteria for use in clinical practice and epidemiological research. No consensus exists about the accurate prevalence rates of frailty. The various operational definitions of frailty can at least partly explain such discrepancies. OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of frailty, measured with different diagnostic tools, among elderly nursing home residents. DESIGN: This is an analysis of baseline data collected among the SENIOR (Sample of Nursing home Elderly Individuals: an Observational Research) cohort. SETTING: Nursing homes. POPULATION: A total of 662 volunteer subjects from 28 nursing homes were included in this analysis. Among them, the mean age was 83.2 ± 8.99 years and 484 (72.5%) of them were women. MEASUREMENT: The percentages of frail and non-frail subjects were calculated according to 10 different definitions. RESULTS: Prevalence of frailty varies from 1.70% (Frailty Index) to 76.3% (Groningen Frailty Indicator) depending on the tool used. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of frailty is highly dependent on the diagnostic tool used. It would be necessary to reach a consensus on which diagnostic tools to use if one wishes to have comparable data obtained in epidemiological studies.