Can Linked Electronic Medical Record and Administrative Data Help Us Identify Those Living with Frailty?

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Frailty is a complex geriatric syndrome impacting patient well-being and health outcomes.
• Accurate identification of frailty is crucial for timely interventions and improved care.
• Existing data sources present challenges in comprehensively capturing frailty indicators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define frailty using electronic medical record (EMR) and administrative data.
• To compare demographic and health characteristics of individuals identified as frail across different data sources.
• To assess the utility of integrated data for frailty assessment.

Main Methods:

• Linked EMR and administrative data for individuals aged 65+ in British Columbia (BC) and Manitoba (MB).
• EMR data sourced from the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).
• Administrative data included billing and hospitalization records from provincial repositories.

Main Results:

• Significant sociodemographic and healthcare utilization differences exist between frailty definitions from EMR versus administrative data.
• 5-8% of individuals aged 65+ with records in both data sources were identified as frail.
• Frail individuals exhibited increased primary care contacts and hospital days, with higher mortality rates.

Conclusions:

• Identifying frailty solely through EMR data is limited due to unrecorded functional deficits.
• Frailty can be effectively captured along a continuum by integrating both EMR and administrative data.
• Combined data approaches enhance the understanding and management of frailty in older populations.