Dataset Information

Changes in Predictive Performance of a Frailty Index with Availability of Clinical Domains.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Determine the effects of missing data in frailty identification and risk prediction.

Design

Analysis of the National Health in Aging Trends Study.

Setting

Community.

Participants

About 6206 older adults.

Measurements

A 41-variable frailty index (FI) was constructed with the following domains: comorbidities, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living, self-reported physical limitations, physical performance, and neuropsychiatric tests. We evaluated discrimination after removing single and multiple domains, comparing C-statistics for predicting 5-year risk of mortality and 1-year risks of disability and falls.

Results

The full FI yielded a mean of .18 and C-statistics of .72 (95% confidence interval, .70-.74) for mortality, .80 (.77-.82) for disability, and .66 (.64-.68) for falls. Removal of any single domain shifted the FI distribution, resulting in a mean FI ranging from .13 (removing comorbidities) to .20 (removing ADLs) and frailty prevalence (FI ≥ .25) from 16.0% to 28.7%. Among robust participants models missing ADLs misclassified most often, (19% as pre-frail). Among pre-frail and frail participants missing comorbidities misclassified most often(69.2% from pre-frail to robust, 24% from frail to pre-frail, and 4.9% from frail to robust). Removal of any single domain minimally changed C-statistics: mortality, .71-.73; disability, .79-.80; and falls, .64-.66. Removing neuropsychiatric testing and physical performance yielded comparable C-statistics of .70, .78, and .66 for mortality, ADLs, and falls, respectively. However, removal of three or four domains based on likely availability decreased C-statistics for mortality (.69, .66),disability (.75, .70), and falls (.64, .63), respectively.

Conclusion

While FI discrimination is robust to missing information in any single domain, risk prediction is affected by absence of multiple domains. This work informs the application of FI as a clinical and research tool. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1771-1777, 2020.

SUBMITTER: Shi SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7872739 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundFew studies have made longitudinal comparisons between frailty phenotype (FP) and frailty index (FI) changes. We aimed to investigate frailty status changes defined by FP and FI concurrently, and to compare the associated factors and incident disability among different combination of FI and FP trajectory groups.MethodsData on respondents aged over 50 who completed the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA) surveys (n = 2807) were excerpted. Changes of FI, FP and major time-dependent variables were constructed by group-based trajectory modeling. Logistic regression was used to investigate the associated factors and relationships with incident disability among different frailty trajectories.ResultsWe identified four FP trajectories - stably robust, worsened frailty, improved frailty, and stably frail and three FI trajectories - stable FI, moderate increase FI and rapid increase FI. Lower self-rated health, mobility impairment, and depressed mood were associated with unfavorable FP and FI changes (all p < 0.001). Regardless of FP trajectory groups, the moderate and rapid increase FI group had significantly more comorbidities than the stable FI group, and more visual, hearing, oral intake impairment, more difficulty in meeting living expenses, and poorer cognitive function in ≥65-year-olds (all p < 0.05). In addition, the worsened frailty, improved frailty, and stably frail groups had ORs for incident disability of 10.5, 3.0, and 13.4, respectively, compared with the stably robust group (all p < 0.01); the moderate and rapid increase FI groups had 8.4-fold and 77.5-fold higher risk than the stable FI group (both p < 0.001). When combining FI and FP trajectories, risk increased with FI trajectory steepness, independent of FP change (all p < 0.01 in rapid increase FI vs stable FI).ConclusionsFour FP trajectories (stably robust, worsened frailty, improved frailty, and stably frail) and three FI trajectories (stable FI, moderate increase FI and rapid increase FI) were identified. Lower self-rated health, mobility impairment, and depressed mood were associated with both unfavorable FP and FI trajectories. Nevertheless, even for individuals in stably robust or improved frailty FP groups, moderate or rapid increase in FI, either due to comorbidities, sensory impairment, cognitive deficits, or financial challenges, may still increase the risk of incident disability.