title: The prediction of disability by self-reported physical frailty components of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI).
abstract: Disability is an important health outcome for older persons; it is associated with impaired quality of life, future hospitalization, and mortality. Disability also places a high burden on health care professionals and health care systems. Disability is regarded as an adverse outcome of physical frailty. The main objective of this study was to assess the predictive validity of the eight individual self-reported components of the physical frailty subscale of the TFI for activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability. This longitudinal study was carried out with a sample of Dutch citizens. At baseline the sample consisted at 429 people aged 65 years and older and a subset of all respondents participated again two and a half years later (N=355, 83% response rate). The respondents completed a web-based questionnaire comprising the TFI and the Groningen Activity Restriction Scale (GARS) for measuring disability. Five components together (unintentional weakness, weakness, poor endurance, slowness, low physical activity), referring to the phenotype of Fried et al., predicted disability, even after controlling for previous disability and other background characteristics. The other three components of the physical frailty subscale of the TFI (poor balance, poor hearing, poor vision) together did not predict disability. Low physical activity predicted both total and ADL disability, and slowness both total and IADL disability. In conclusion, self-report assessment using the physical subscale of the TFI aids the prediction of future ADL and IADL disability in older persons two and a half years later.
authors.affiliation: Research & Development Centre Innovations in Care, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: gobrj@hr.nl.
authors.forename: R J J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gobbens
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A L M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Assen
authors.affiliation: Department of Tranzo, Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Research Unit for People, Policy and Performance, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North West University, South Africa.
authors.forename: M J D
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schalk
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Disability; Frailty; Physical activity; Slowness; TFI