Reversing Frailty Levels in Primary Care Using the CARES Model

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Primary Care Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Community-dwelling older adults are susceptible to frailty, impacting health outcomes.
• Effective interventions are needed to measure and mitigate frailty in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Community Actions and Resources Empowering Seniors (CARES) model's effectiveness in measuring and mitigating frailty.
• To assess the feasibility of implementing the CARES model in primary care settings.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 51 community-dwelling older adults.
• Utilized the Community Actions and Resources Empowering Seniors (CARES) model, integrating comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) with health coaching.
• Measured frailty using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and Frailty Index (FI-CGA) at baseline and six-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in Frailty Index (FI-CGA) scores from baseline (0.24 ± 0.08) to follow-up (0.21 ± 0.08), indicating an average decrease of 1.8 deficits.
• Sixty-one percent of participants showed improvement in their FI-CGA scores, and 38% improved their Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) categories.
• Vulnerable or frail participants at baseline demonstrated greater responsiveness to the CARES intervention compared to non-frail individuals.

Conclusions:

• Pilot data suggest the CARES model is feasible for assessing frailty in primary care.
• The CARES intervention shows potential positive effects on frailty, warranting further investigation.
• General practitioners can access patient FI-CGA scores at the point of service via electronic medical records.