Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026
Frailty Assessment in an Aging Mouse Model
Published on: September 23, 2025
Comparison of two frailty screening tools in older women with early breast cancer
M J Molina-Garrido1, C Guillen-Ponce
1Medical Oncology Department. Hospital General Virgen de la Luz in Cuenca, Hermandad Donantes de Sangre, Spain. mjmolinagarrido@hotmail.com
Introduction And Objectives:
We have tested two frailty screening tools (the Barber Questionnaire [BQ] and the Vulnerable Elderly Survey [VES-13]) to select patients who may benefit from Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA).
Materials And Methods:
We included women ≥ 65 years old, diagnosed with early breast cancer at the University General Hospital in Elche. We compared impairment in the BQ score (score <0 vs. > 0) and impairment in the VES-13 score (<3 vs. ≥ 3), with impaired CGA results (< 2 scales with deficits vs. ≥2). We evaluated the diagnostic performance of both questionnaires by Area Under Curve [AUC] and analyzed their concordance with CGA scales (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]).
Results:
Forty-one women were included. The risk of frailty was 41.76%, 29.3%, and 55.7% when evaluated with BQ, VES-13 and CGA, respectively. The correlation between BQ and CGA was fair (ICC=0.672), but between VES-13 and CGA was very good (ICC=0.814). The predictive capacity of the BQ and the VES-13 for detecting frailty risk was intermediate (AUC=0.719) and high (AUC=0.876), respectively.
Conclusions:
We propose the use of the VES-13 in older women with early breast cancer and the implementation of CGA when VES-13<3.
