Development of a Frailty Phenotype Questionnaire for Use in Screening Community-Dwelling Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to develop a screening questionnaire for frailty based on the Fried frailty phenotype (FFP) in community-dwelling older adults.

Cross-sectional data analysis of a cohort study.

The study used baseline data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Survey, a multicenter longitudinal study undertaken in 10 urban, rural, and suburban communities in Korea between 2016 and 2017. A total of 2917 older adults aged 70 to 84 years were included in the analysis, who were administered questionnaires and physical function tests.

Gait speed and grip strength were measured, and all participants completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and answered questions about weight loss and exhaustion based on FFP.

Five questions were chosen to screen for FFP: fatigue (exhaustion), resistance (weakness), ambulation (slowness), inactivity, and loss of weight. The Frailty Phenotype Questionnaire (FPQ; range of 0-5) was well correlated with the Fried frailty scale (range of 0-5) (r = 0.643; P < .001). Frailty based on the FPQ score (≥3 of 5) showed satisfactory diagnostic accuracy for FFP (area under the curve = 0.89), with high sensitivity (81.7%) and specificity (82.5%).

The FPQ is a highly accurate screening tool for FFP in community-dwelling older adults.