Associations of Frailty, Defined Using Three Different Instruments, with All-Cause Mortality in a Tertiary Outpatient...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Clinical Medicine

Background:

• Frailty is a significant predictor of mortality in older adults.
• Several instruments exist to assess frailty, but comparative studies in diverse populations are limited.
• No prior studies have compared the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), Fried frailty phenotype, and FRAIL scale for mortality prediction in Turkiye.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the ability of the TFI, Fried frailty phenotype, and FRAIL scale to predict all-cause mortality in Turkish outpatients.
• To evaluate the independent association of frailty, as defined by these three instruments, with mortality.

Main Methods:

• A historical prospective study was conducted with 198 outpatients (≥70 years) at a university hospital in Istanbul, Turkiye.
• Survival status was tracked via the official death registry system.
• Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify predictors of mortality.

Main Results:

• During a median follow-up of 2236 days, 54 (27.3%) participants died.
• Male sex, falls, dependency, malnutrition, and all three frailty measures were associated with mortality in univariate analysis.
• In multivariate analysis, frailty (by all three instruments), male sex, older age, falls, and malnutrition independently predicted mortality. The Fried scale showed the strongest predictive ability.

Conclusions:

• Frailty, assessed by TFI, Fried phenotype, and FRAIL scale, is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in Turkish outpatients.
• The Fried scale appears to be the most effective instrument for predicting all-cause mortality in this population.