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Measuring Frailty among Older People : Further Evaluation of the Brody Frailty Index

Jakobsson, U. LU orcid (2017) In The Journal of frailty & aging 6(4). p.224-227
Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the predictive validity of the Brody self-report frailty index among older people. Design, setting and measurements: A longitudinal cohort study (2-years) conducted in Sweden, which included 1141 respondents, aged 65-103 years. Data were collected during 2011-2013 through a postal questionnaire with questions about demographic data, living conditions, self-reported health, ADL dependency (ADL-staircase) and frailty (the Brody frailty index).

RESULTS: The total sample was comprised of 53 percent women and the mean age was 74.5 years (SD 7.0). The mean frailty index score at baseline was 0.12 and increased with higher age (rs= 0.819) as well as with increased ADL dependency (rs =... (More)

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the predictive validity of the Brody self-report frailty index among older people. Design, setting and measurements: A longitudinal cohort study (2-years) conducted in Sweden, which included 1141 respondents, aged 65-103 years. Data were collected during 2011-2013 through a postal questionnaire with questions about demographic data, living conditions, self-reported health, ADL dependency (ADL-staircase) and frailty (the Brody frailty index).

RESULTS: The total sample was comprised of 53 percent women and the mean age was 74.5 years (SD 7.0). The mean frailty index score at baseline was 0.12 and increased with higher age (rs= 0.819) as well as with increased ADL dependency (rs = 0.740). The analyses showed high percentage of correctly classified cases (97.1-98.2), high specificity (98.1-98.4) but low sensitivity (22.2-66.7).

CONCLUSION: The self-report frailty index seems to be a valid measure of current frailty, but its predictive validity was found to be non-acceptable especially regarding the instrument's sensitivity. Such instrument can be useful to predict frailty and allocate resources in the care of older people.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Aged, aged 80 and over, epidemiology, frail elderly, predictive value of tests
in
The Journal of frailty & aging
volume
6
issue
4
pages
4 pages
publisher
Serdi Publishing Company
external identifiers
  • pmid:29165542
  • scopus:85045121195
ISSN
2260-1341
DOI
10.14283/jfa.2017.41
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
01cd08d5-8ce2-4bc3-86f8-3430226d3ff0
date added to LUP
2018-04-17 08:35:31
date last changed
2024-03-01 17:36:33
@article{01cd08d5-8ce2-4bc3-86f8-3430226d3ff0,
  abstract     = {{<p>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the predictive validity of the Brody self-report frailty index among older people. Design, setting and measurements: A longitudinal cohort study (2-years) conducted in Sweden, which included 1141 respondents, aged 65-103 years. Data were collected during 2011-2013 through a postal questionnaire with questions about demographic data, living conditions, self-reported health, ADL dependency (ADL-staircase) and frailty (the Brody frailty index).</p><p>RESULTS: The total sample was comprised of 53 percent women and the mean age was 74.5 years (SD 7.0). The mean frailty index score at baseline was 0.12 and increased with higher age (rs= 0.819) as well as with increased ADL dependency (rs = 0.740). The analyses showed high percentage of correctly classified cases (97.1-98.2), high specificity (98.1-98.4) but low sensitivity (22.2-66.7).</p><p>CONCLUSION: The self-report frailty index seems to be a valid measure of current frailty, but its predictive validity was found to be non-acceptable especially regarding the instrument's sensitivity. Such instrument can be useful to predict frailty and allocate resources in the care of older people.</p>}},
  author       = {{Jakobsson, U.}},
  issn         = {{2260-1341}},
  keywords     = {{Aged; aged 80 and over; epidemiology; frail elderly; predictive value of tests}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{224--227}},
  publisher    = {{Serdi Publishing Company}},
  series       = {{The Journal of frailty & aging}},
  title        = {{Measuring Frailty among Older People : Further Evaluation of the Brody Frailty Index}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jfa.2017.41}},
  doi          = {{10.14283/jfa.2017.41}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}