Frailty Matters: Validation of an Automated Electronic Short Physical Performance Battery (eSPPB) for Predicting...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cardiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Frailty significantly impacts outcomes in older adults with cardiovascular disease.
• Routine frailty assessment in hospitals is challenged by a lack of validated digital tools.
• The prognostic value of automated frailty tools in acute care settings needs further establishment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the agreement between manual and automated electronic Short Physical Performance Battery (eSPPB) assessments.
• To determine the prognostic relevance of automated frailty assessment for short-term mortality in hospitalized cardiology patients.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study involving 113 hospitalized cardiology patients.
• Frailty assessed using manual SPPB (mSPPB) and automated eSPPB.
• Agreement analyzed via correlation, ICC, and Bland-Altman plots; mortality assessed using logistic regression and survival analysis.

Main Results:

• High correlation (r=0.994) and good agreement (ICC=0.80) between mSPPB and eSPPB.
• Frail patients (SPPB < 5) had significantly higher 30-day mortality (17.6% vs. 2.1%, p=0.009).
• Automated frailty assessment showed potential for risk stratification (AUC 0.83).

Conclusions:

• Automated eSPPB is a valid and reliable tool for frailty assessment in acute cardiology settings.
• eSPPB demonstrates significant association with short-term mortality, supporting its clinical utility for risk stratification.