A standard procedure for creating a frailty index.
BACKGROUND
Frailty can be measured in relation to the accumulation of deficits using a frailty index. A frailty index can be developed from most ageing databases. Our objective is to systematically describe a standard procedure for constructing a frailty index.


METHODS
This is a secondary analysis of the Yale Precipitating Events Project cohort study, based in New Haven CT. Non-disabled people aged 70 years or older (n = 754) were enrolled and re-contacted every 18 months. The database includes variables on function, cognition, co-morbidity, health attitudes and practices and physical performance measures. Data came from the baseline cohort and those available at the first 18-month follow-up assessment.


RESULTS
Procedures for selecting health variables as candidate deficits were applied to yield 40 deficits. Recoding procedures were applied for categorical, ordinal and interval variables such that they could be mapped to the interval 0-1, where 0 = absence of a deficit, and 1= full expression of the deficit. These individual deficit scores were combined in an index, where 0= no deficit present, and 1= all 40 deficits present. The values of the index were well fit by a gamma distribution. Between the baseline and follow-up cohorts, the age-related slope of deficit accumulation increased from 0.020 (95% confidence interval, 0.014-0.026) to 0.026 (0.020-0.032). The 99% limit to deficit accumulation was 0.6 in the baseline cohort and 0.7 in the follow-up cohort. Multivariate Cox analysis showed the frailty index, age and sex to be significant predictors of mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
A systematic process for creating a frailty index, which relates deficit accumulation to the individual risk of death, showed reproducible properties in the Yale Precipitating Events Project cohort study. This method of quantifying frailty can aid our understanding of frailty-related health characteristics in older adults.
Searle
Samuel D
SD
Geriatric Medicine Research Unit, Dalhousie University & Capital District Health Authority, Halifax, Canada. ssearle@dal.ca
Mitnitski
Arnold
A
Gahbauer
Evelyne A
EA
Gill
Thomas M
TM
Rockwood
Kenneth
K
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D035862:Vulnerable Populations