An interRAI-derived frailty index is associated with prior hospitalisations in older adults residing in retirement villages.

Abstract

To develop and validate a frailty index (FI) from interRAI-Community Health Assessments (CHA) on older adults in retirement villages (RVs). This is a cross-sectional analysis of a current RV research study. A FI was generated using the cumulative deficit model. Health-care utilisation measures were acute, and all, hospitalisations 12months before baseline assessment. Associations between FI and hospitalisations were explored using multivariable logistic regression to estimate odds ratio (OR). Of 577 included residents, mean (SD) age was 81 (7) and 419 (73%) were female. Mean (SD) FI was 0.16 (0.09); 260 (45%) were mildly frail, and 108 (19%) moderate-severely frail. In multivariate-adjusted analysis, odds of acute hospitalisation for mild (OR=3.3, P<.001) and moderate-severely frail (OR=6.4, P<.001) were significantly higher than fit residents. Higher odds were also observed for all hospitalisations. A considerable proportion of RV residents were moderately-severely frail. FI was associated with acute and all hospitalisations.