title: Frailty in an older inpatient population: using the clinical frailty scale to predict patient outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of frailty, measured using the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale, on outcomes of older people hospitalized with acute illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients were randomly allocated to a model development sample or a model validation sample. Multivariate analyses were used to model in-hospital mortality, new nursing home placement, and length of stay. Variables selected in the development samples were tested in the validation samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of all 2,125 patients was 82.9 years. Most (93.6%) were admitted through the emergency department. Frailty predicted in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR] = 2.97 [2.11, 4.17]), new nursing home placement (OR = 1.60 [1.14, 2.24]), and length of hospital stay (hazard ratio = 0.87 [0.81, 0.93]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frailty is a strong predictor of adverse outcomes in older people hospitalized with acute illness. An increased awareness of its impact may alert clinicians to screen for frailty.
authors.affiliation: University of New South Wales, Australia david.basic@swsahs.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Basic
authors.affiliation: University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shanley
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: death; elderly inpatients; frailty; length of stay; outcomes