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Background: Advancements in treatment have resulted in improved survival among people living with HIV. However, additional years of life are not necessarily spent in good health, as frailty tends to develop at a younger age among people living with HIV. We set out to examine the prevalence of frailty and its correlates among older adults living with HIV in Canada, with a primary interest in nadir CD4 count., Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the Correlates of Healthy Aging in Geriatric HIV (CHANGE HIV) study, a Canadian cohort of people living with HIV aged 65 years or older. Participants were assessed using the Fried Frailty Phenotype at cohort entry, and those meeting ≥3 criteria were characterized as frail. We used Poisson regression with robust standard errors to estimate the association between nadir CD4 count and frailty, as well as age, gender, time since HIV diagnosis, comorbidities, marital status, and loneliness., Results: Among 439 participants included in this analysis (median age 69 years, interquartile ranges 67-73), prevalence of frailty was 16.6%. Frailty was not associated with nadir CD4 count. Not being in a relationship (aRR 2.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 4.30) and greater degree of loneliness (aRR 1.25 per 10 point increase on UCLA loneliness scale, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.44) were associated with frailty., Conclusions: Frailty occurred in 16.6% of older adults living with HIV in this cohort. While nadir CD4 count did not correlate with frailty, being single and lonely did, highlighting the importance of recognizing and addressing these social vulnerabilities among people aging with HIV., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health disorders in the middle aged and older population. Because older individuals are more likely to have multiple comorbidities or increased frailty, the impact of anxiety disorders on their overall well-being is exacerbated. Early identification of anxiety disorders using machine learning (ML) can potentially mitigate the adverse consequences associated with these disorders., Methods: We applied ML to the data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to predict the onset of anxiety disorders approximately three years in the future. We used Shapley value-based methods to determine the top factor for prediction. We also investigated whether anxiety onset can be predicted by baseline depression-related predictors alone., Results: Our model was able to predict anxiety onset accurately (Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve or AUC = 0.814 ± 0.016 (mean ± standard deviation), balanced accuracy = 0.741 ± 0.016, sensitivity = 0.743 ± 0.033, and specificity = 0.738 ± 0.010). The top predictive factors included prior depression or mood disorder diagnosis, high frailty, anxious personality, and low emotional stability. Depression and mood disorders are well known comorbidity of anxiety; however a prior depression or mood disorder diagnosis could not predict anxiety onset without other factors., Limitation: While our findings underscore the importance of a prior depression diagnosis in predicting anxiety, they also highlight that it alone is inadequate, signifying the necessity to incorporate additional predictors for improved prediction accuracy., Conclusion: Our study showcases promising prospects for using machine learning to develop personalized prediction models for anxiety onset in middle-aged and older adults using easy-to-access survey data., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We have no conflicts of interests to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Frailty reflects the heterogeneity in aging and may lead to the development of hypertension and heart disease, but the frailty-cardiovascular relationship and whether physical activity modifies this relationship in males and females are unclear. We tested whether higher frailty was positively associated with hypertension and heart disease in males and females and whether habitual movement mediated this relationship. The relationship between baseline frailty with follow-up hypertension and heart disease was investigated using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging at 3-year follow-up data (males: n = 13,095; females: n = 13,601). Frailty at baseline was determined via a 73-item deficit-based index, activity at follow-up was determined via the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly, and cardiovascular function was self-reported. Higher baseline frailty level was associated with a greater likelihood of hypertension and heart disease at follow-up, with covariate-adjusted odds ratios of 1.08-1.09 (all, P < 0.001) for a 0.01 increase in frailty index score. Among males and females, sitting time and strenuous physical activity were independently associated with hypertension, with these activity behaviors being partial mediators (except male-sitting time) for the frailty-hypertension relationship (explained 5-10% of relationship). The strength of this relationship was stronger among females. Only light-moderate activity partially mediated the relationship (∼6%) between frailty and heart disease in females, but no activity measure was a mediator for males. Higher frailty levels were associated with a greater incidence of hypertension and heart disease, and strategies that target increases in physical activity and reducing sitting may partially uncouple this relationship with hypertension, particularly among females. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Longitudinally, our study demonstrates that higher baseline frailty levels are associated with an increased risk of hypertension and heart disease in a large sample of Canadian males and females. Movement partially mediated this relationship, particularly among females.

Aim: Several frailty assessment tools are currently used in clinics and research, however, there appears to be a lack of head-to-head comparisons between these tools among older adults in developing countries. This study compared the Cardiovascular Health Study, Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, the Tilburg Frailty Indicator and the Canadian Study of Health and Aging frailty assessment tools and evaluated performance of these individual frailty assessment tools with mortality., Methods: This prospective cohort study utilized stratified simple random sampling to recruit 1614 participants from the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research aged above 55 years within the Klang Valley region from 2013 to 2015. Individual items for the frailty tools, alongside baseline physical and cognitive measures were extracted from the initial survey. Mortality data up to 31 December 2020 were obtained through data linkage from the death registry data obtained from the Malaysian National Registration Department., Results: Data were available for over 1609 participants, age (68.92 ± 7.52) years and 57 % women, during recruitment. Mortality data revealed 13.4 % had died as of 31 December 2020. Five to 25 % of our study population fulfilled the criteria for frailty using all four frailty tools. This study found an increased risk of mortality with frailty following adjustments for potential factors of falls, total number of illnesses and cognitive impairment, alongside moderate to strong correlation and agreement between frailty tools., Conclusion: Frailty was associated with increased mortality. All four frailty assessment tools can be used to assess frailty within the Malaysian older adult population. The four available tools, however, may not be interchangeable., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Frail older adults make up a substantial portion of the older adult population. However, frail patients are often excluded from randomized controlled trials. This underrepresentation restricts the extent to which trial findings can be generalized to this population. We compared a sample from the Canadian 5C Randomized Controlled Trial investigating comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in the geriatric oncology setting in terms of frailty to patients referred to the Older Adults with Cancer Clinic (OACC) to determine if the trial sample was representative of the normal geriatric oncology practice., Materials and Methods: Baseline CGA data of 5C Trial participants seen at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM), were compared to data from OACC patients that were seen during the duration of the 5C trial (between April 2018 and April 2020) and that satisfied the 5C inclusion criteria. To assess the frailty of samples, sex, age, disease site, comorbidity level, medical optimization, social supports, functional status, falls risk, nutrition, cognition, and mood were compared between 5C participants and OACC patients using Fisher's exact and independent samples t-test., Results: A sample of 115 5C participants and 205 OACC patients were included. The mean age of 5C participants and OACC patients was 75.4 and 81.6 years, respectively (p < 0.001). The distribution of disease sites was significantly different between the samples (p < 0.001) and OACC patients were also significantly more impaired compared to 5C participants in comorbidity (23.4% versus 10.4% high comorbidity) (p = 0.001), IADL dependence (55.1% versus 42.6%) (p = 0.036), impaired physical function (70.6% versus 31.3%) (p < 0.001), falls risk (67.8% versus 27%) (p < 0.001), impaired nutrition (55.6% versus 40.9%) (p = 0.014), and cognition (47.2% versus 10%) (p < 0.001). There were no differences in sex, medication optimization, poor social supports, and impaired mood between the samples., Discussion: The 5C sample was less frail and younger than patients seen in the geriatric oncology clinic. Finding strategies to address barriers to the inclusion of frailer older adults is important to increase their representation in future trials to allow findings to be generalized to this vulnerable population., Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov # NCT03154671., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There was no conflict of interest. Funding The 5C study is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society (grant #705046). Dr. Puts is supported with a Canada Research Chair in the Care of Frail Older Adults., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Most people value quality of life over mere duration. At least 50% of people are extremely averse to ever living in a nursing home (NH)., Objectives: Assess whether pre-operative frailty is associated with new, post-operative NH placement., Design, Setting: Retrospective, population-based cohort study in the Canadian province of Manitoba, 2000-2017., Participants: 7408 persons ≥65 years undergoing any of 16 specific, elective, noncardiac surgeries of varying Operative Surgical Stress (OSS)., Measurements: The primary outcome was new admission to a NH, or being placed on a waiting list for a NH, within 180 days of index hospital admission, among index hospital survivors. Frailty was assessed from administrative data by the Preoperative Frailty Index (pFI), which ranges 0-1. Other outcomes were 30-day and 90-180 day mortality, and post-hospital medical resource use to 180 days. Analyses used multivariable regression models, adjusted for age, sex, OSS, year of surgery, anesthetic technique, and socioeconomic status. P-values were adjusted for the six outcomes., Results: Subjects had mean age (±SD) of 74±7 yrs; 61% were male. pFI ranged 0-0.68, with a mean±SD of 0.21±0.09. All six outcomes were significantly associated with greater frailty. Each additional 0.1 unit increase in pFI was associated with a hazard ratio for new NH admission or wait-listing of 3.01 (p<0.0006)., Conclusions: While our study agrees with prior work indicating that greater frailty is associated with higher probability of post-operative discharge to a NH, it overcomes a number of limitations of all prior work. Strong arguments follow that prospective surgical candidates be evaluated for their degree of frailty, and that their informed consent include discussion of the possibility of survival with loss of independence., Competing Interests: All authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest. This work was supported by research grants from the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine’s Oversight and Advisory Committee at the University of Manitoba.

Objective: To explore if older adults with osteosarcopenia are at a greater risk of falls, fractures, frailty, and worsening life satisfaction and activities of daily living (ADL) compared to those with normal bone mineral density (BMD) and without sarcopenia., Design: The baseline and 3-year follow-up of a longitudinal study., Setting and Participants: Community-dwelling people aged 65 years or older in Canada., Methods: Caucasian participants 65 years or older that completed the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) 2015 baseline interview, physical measurements and 3-year follow-up were included. Osteopenia/osteoporosis was defined as BMD T score below -1 SD according to the World Health Organization, and sarcopenia was defined as low grip strength and/or low gait speed according to the Sarcopenia Definition Outcomes Consortium. Osteosarcopenia was defined as the coexistence of osteopenia/osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Self-reported incident falls and fractures in the last 12 months before the 3-year follow-up were measured. Frailty was assessed through the Rockwood Frailty Index (FI); life satisfaction through the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS); and ADL through the Older American Resources and Services modules. Multivariable logistic and linear regression, including subgroup analyses by sex, were conducted., Results: The sample of 8888 participants (49.1% females) had a mean age (SD) of 72.7 (5.6) years. At baseline, neither osteopenia/osteoporosis nor sarcopenia (reference group) was present in 30.1%, sarcopenia only in 18.4%, osteopenia/osteoporosis only in 29.2%, and osteosarcopenia in 22.3%. Osteosarcopenia was significantly associated with incident falls and fractures in males [adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.90, 95% CI 1.15, 3.14, and aOR 2.60, 95% CI 1.14, 5.91, respectively] compared to males without osteopenia/osteoporosis or sarcopenia. Participants with osteosarcopenia had worsening ADL of 0.110 (estimated β coefficient 0.110, 95% CI 0.029, 0.192) and a decrease in their SWLS by 0.660 (estimated β coefficient -0.660, 95% CI -1.133, -0.187), compared to those without. Osteosarcopenia was not associated with frailty for both males and females., Conclusions and Implications: Osteosarcopenia was associated with self-reported incident falls and fractures in males and worse life satisfaction and ADL for all participants. Assessing and identifying osteosarcopenia is essential for preventing falls and fractures. Furthermore, it improves life satisfaction and ADL., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Frailty is a predictor of adverse outcomes in elderly patients. The Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is an often-used frailty assessment instrument. However, the CFS's reliability and validity in patients with burn injuries are unknown. This study aimed to assess the CFS's inter-rater reliability and validity (predictive validity, known group validity and convergent validity) in patients with burn injuries treated to specialized burn care., Methods: A retrospective multicentre cohort study was conducted in all three Dutch burn centres. Patients aged ≥ 50 years with burn injuries, with a primary admission in 2015-2018, were included. Based on information in the electronic patient files, a research team member scored the CFS retrospectively. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using Krippendorff's α. Validity was assessed using logistic regression analysis. Patients with a CFS ≥ 5 were considered frail., Results: In total, 540 patients were included, with a mean age of 65.8 years (SD 11.5) and a Total Body Surface Area (TBSA) burned of 8.5%. The CFS was used to assess frailty in 540 patients and the reliability of the CFS was scored for 212 patients. Mean CFS was 3.4(SD 2.0). Inter-rater reliability was adequate, Krippendorff's α 0.69 (95%CI 0.62-0.74). A positive frailty screening was predictive of a non-home discharge location (OR 3.57, 95%CI 2.16-5.93), a higher in-hospital mortality rate (OR 1.06-8.77), and a higher mortality rate within 12 months after discharge (OR 4.61, 95%CI 1.99-10.65) after adjustment for age, TBSA, and inhalation injury. Frail patients were more likely to be older (for<70 vs. ≥70 years odds ratio 2.88, 95%CI 1.95-4.25) and their comorbidities were more severe (ASA ≥3 vs 1-2 OR 6.43, 95%CI 4.26-9.70) (known group validity). The CFS was significantly related (r Spearman =0.55) to the Dutch Safety Management System (DSMS) frailty screening, reflecting a fair-good correlation between the CFS and DSMS frailty screening outcomes., Conclusion: The Clinical Frailty scale is reliable and has shown its validity, including its association with adverse outcomes in patients with burn injury admitted to specialized burn care. Early frailty assessment with the CFS must be considered, to optimize early recognition and treatment of frailty., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

There are few reports on the long-term clinical outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) complicated with frailty. This novel study investigated the association between pre-PCI frailty and long-term clinical outcomes in elderly patients aged 65 years or older with stable CAD who underwent elective PCI. We assessed 239 consecutive patients aged 65 years or older with stable CAD who underwent successful elective PCI at Kagoshima City Hospital between January 1st, 2017 and December 31st, 2020. Frailty was retrospectively assessed using the Canadian Study and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Based on the pre-PCI CFS, patients were divided into two groups: the non-frail (CFS < 5) and the frail (CFS ≥ 5) group. We investigated the association between pre-PCI CFS and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) defined as the composite of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and heart failure requiring hospitalization. Additionally, we assessed the association between pre-PCI CFS and major bleeding events defined as Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) type 3 or 5 bleeding. The mean age was 74.8 ± 7.0 years, and 73.6% were men. According to the pre-PCI frailty assessment, 38 (15.9%) and 201 (84.1%) were classified as frail and non-frail groups, respectively. During a median follow-up of 962 (607-1284) days, 46 patients developed MACEs and 10 patients developed major bleeding events. Kaplan-Meier curves showed a significantly higher incidence of MACE in the frail group compared to those in the non-frail group (Log-rank p < 0.001). Even in multivariate analysis, pre-PCI frailty (CFS ≥ 5) was independently associated with MACE (HR 4.27, 95% CI 1.86-9.80, p-value: < 0.001). Additionally, the cumulative incidence of major bleeding events was significantly higher in the frail group than in the non-frail group (Log-rank p = 0.001). Pre-PCI frailty was an independent risk factor for MACE and bleeding events in elderly patients with stable CAD who underwent elective PCI., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) provides an index of arterial injury. Frailty is an indicator of vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. It is unclear whether cIMT is associated with the multi-dimensional frailty index and/or if this relationship is age- or sex-specific. The aim was to determine the impact of age and sex on the relationship between cIMT and frailty level in middle-aged and older adults., Methods: Frailty and cIMT data were extracted from the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging baseline comprehensive cohort of middle-aged (45-64 years) and older adults (>65 years) (n = 10,209). cIMT was assessed via high-resolution ultrasound. Frailty was determined using a 52-item index. Covariate-adjusted ordinary least squares regressions were conducted separately for middle-aged males (n = 3178), middle-aged females (n = 3125), older males (n = 2031), and older females (n = 1875)., Results: Average cIMTs were larger in older versus middle-aged adults and in males versus females (all, p < 0.001). Average cIMT was positively associated with frailty level in adjusted linear regression models in middle-aged males [adj. R 2  = 0.09; β = 0.015 (95 % CI: 0.005-0.026), p = 0.004], middle-aged females [adj. R 2  = 0.11; β = 0.040 (95 % CI: 0.025-0.054), p < 0.001], older males [adj. R 2  = 0.12; β = 0.019 (95 % CI: 0.004-0.034), p = 0.01], and older females [adj. R 2  = 0.11; β = 0.020 (95 % CI: 0.002-0.039), p = 0.03]., Conclusion: cIMT was an independent contributor to frailty level regardless of age group (middle-aged/older adults) or sex, with the strongest effect observed in middle-aged females. Our cross-sectional study documents the independent relationship between a marker of cardiovascular function and an increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes in middle-aged and older males and females., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: This research has been conducted using the CLSA dataset (Baseline Tracking Dataset version 3.6, Baseline Comprehensive Dataset version 5.0, Follow-up 1 Tracking Dataset version 2.1, Follow-up 1 Comprehensive Dataset version 3.0), under Application Number 2010006. The CLSA is led by Drs Parminder Raina, Christina Wolfson, and Susan Kirkland. No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors. Khan, Verschoor, Edgell, Rotondi, and Tamim have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.

Purpose: Midlife adults (50-64 y) are at risk for falls and subsequent injury; yet current guidance on fall screening only pertains to older adults (> 65 y). Herein, we evaluated whether frailty was predictive of readmission for falls in midlife trauma patients., Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort study of trauma midlife patients admitted for traumatic injuries from 2010 to 2015. Demographics, injury data, fall history, and post-index readmission for falls were collected from medical records. Frailty scores were calculated retrospectively using the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CSHA-CFS). The association between frailty and outcomes was assessed. p < 0.05 was considered significant., Results: A total of 326 midlife patients were included, 54% were considered fit, 33.7% pre-frail, and 12.3% frail. Compared to their fit and pre-frail counterparts, frail patients were more likely to be female (67.5% vs. 46.3% vs. 36.3%, p < 0.001), have a history of fall (22.5% vs. 15.5% vs. 6.2%, p < 0.001), and to have suffered a ground level fall on index admission (52.5% vs. 20% vs. 5.7%, p < 0.001). Controlling for age, BMI, gender, race, and fall history, frailty was associated with readmission of midlife adults for falls (OR = 1.82 [1.23-2.69]; p = 0.003) and discharge to skilled nursing facilities (OR = 26.86 [8.03-89.81], p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Pre-injury frailty may be an effective tool to predict risk of readmission for fall and discharge disposition in midlife trauma patients., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.)

Background: Accessible measures specific to the Canadian context are needed to support health system planning for older adults living with frailty. We sought to develop and validate the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) Hospital Frailty Risk Measure (HFRM)., Methods: Using CIHI administrative data, we conducted a retrospective cohort study involving patients aged 65 years and older who were discharged from Canadian hospitals from Apr. 1, 2018, to Mar. 31, 2019. We used a 2-phase approach to develop and validate the CIHI HFRM. The first phase, construction of the measure, was based on the deficit accumulation approach (identification of age-related conditions using a 2-year look-back). The second phase involved refinement into 3 formats (continuous risk score, 8 risk groups and binary risk measure), with assessment of their predictive validity for several frailty-related adverse outcomes using data to 2019/20. We assessed convergent validity with the United Kingdom Hospital Frailty Risk Score., Results: The cohort consisted of 788 701 patients. The CIHI HFRM included 36 deficit categories and 595 diagnosis codes that cover morbidity, function, sensory loss, cognition and mood. The median continuous risk score was 0.111 (interquartile range 0.056-0.194, equivalent to 2-7 deficits); 35.1% ( n = 277 000) of the cohort were found at risk of frailty (≥ 6 deficits). The CIHI HFRM showed satisfactory predictive validity and reasonable goodness-of-fit. For the continuous risk score format (unit = 0.1), the hazard ratio (HR) for 1-year risk of death was 1.39 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38-1.41), with a C-statistic of 0.717 (95% CI 0.715-0.720); the odds ratio for high users of hospital beds was 1.85 (95% CI 1.82-1.88), with a C-statistic of 0.709 (95% CI 0.704-0.714), and the HR of 90-day admission to long-term care was 1.91 (95% CI 1.88-1.93), with a C-statistic of 0.810 (95% CI 0.808-0.813). Compared with the continuous risk score, using a format of 8 risk groups had similar discriminatory ability and the binary risk measure had slightly weaker performance., Interpretation: The CIHI HFRM is a valid tool showing good discriminatory power for several adverse outcomes. The tool can be used by decision-makers and researchers by providing information on hospital-level prevalence of frailty to support system-level capacity planning for Canada's aging population., Competing Interests: Competing interests: John Muscedere is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Frailty Network (CFN), which is funded by the government of Canada through the Networks of Centres of Excellence program. He has received grant support through CFN for frailty research. Kenneth Rockwood has asserted copyright of the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) through Dalhousie University’s Industry, Liaison, and Innovation Office, which has been licensed to Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Synairgen Research, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, KCR S.A., Icosavax, BioAge Labs, Biotest AG, AstraZeneca UK Limited and Qu Biologics. He has also asserted copyright (with Dr. Olga Theou) for the Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale (PFFS), which has been licensed to Congenica; use of both the CFS and PFFS is free for education, research and nonprofit health care with completion of a permission agreement stipulating users will not change, charge for or commercialize the scales. He reports personal fees from the Burnaby Division Family Practice, United Arab Emirates University, Singapore National Research Foundation, McMaster University, Chinese Medical Association, Wake Forest University Medical School, University of Omaha and Atria Institute, as well as funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He chaired the data safety monitoring board for the ADMET-II clinical trial. He is co-founder of Ardea Outcomes, which (DGI Clinical until 2021) in the last 3 years has contracts with pharmaceutical and device manufacturers (Danone, Hollister, INmune, Novartis, Takeda) on individualized outcome measurement. In 2020, on behalf of Ardea Outcomes, he attended an advisory board meeting with Nutricia on dementia. He is associate director of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, and special advisor to the president of Cape Breton University on frailty and aging. No other competing interests were declared., (© 2023 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.)

Background: In patients with rib fractures, adverse outcomes are associated with number of rib fractures; however, studies suggest an association with frailty. We assessed whether frailty, measured using the Canadian Study of Health and Aging clinical frailty scale, was associated with adverse outcomes in this population., Methods: Patients ≥50 years admitted for rib fractures from July 2015 to June 2020 were retrospectively scored for frailty. Demographics, comorbidities, injury information, hospital course, and complications were collected. Univariate analyses were performed to assess significant differences between the fit, prefrail, and frail groups. The association between number of rib fractures and frailty with outcomes was determined., Results: Controlling for age, sex, Injury Severity Score, preadmission anticoagulant, injury mechanism, and comorbidities and nonchest Abbreviated Injury Scores showing significant differences, the number of rib fractures was associated with developing pneumonia (odds ratio = 1.197 [1.076-1.332]; P = .001), hospital length of stay (odds ratio = 1.066 [1.033-1.100], P < .001), mortality (odds ratio = 1.157 [1.048-1.278], P = .004), and discharge to long-term acute care facilities (odds ratio = 1.295 [1.084-1.546], P = .004). Frailty was associated with hospital length of stay (odds ratio = 1.659 [1.059-2.598], P = .027) and discharge to skilled nursing facilities (odds ratio = 5.282 [1.567-17.802], P = .007)., Conclusion: In our population, the number of rib fractures was associated with respiratory complications and mortality. Frailty was associated with longer hospitalization and discharge to higher level of care., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Correlates of Healthy Aging in Geriatric HIV (CHANGE HIV) study, CTN 314, is the first Canadian cohort of people living with HIV aged 65 years and older. The cohort was established with the purpose of characterizing the multidimensional health status of this population and identifying factors influencing healthy aging. The study builds on the World Health Organization (WHO) Aging and Health conceptual framework, generating a comprehensive profile of health domains (physical, social, mental health, cognitive function, and quality of life), health determinants (biologic, personal, and environmental), and HIV-specific factors that may interact with and influence health in people aging with HIV. The data for the first 353 participants are presented, focusing on sociodemographic factors, comorbidities, coinfections, frailty, cognitive function, loneliness, and resilience using a sex/gender stratified analysis. The cohort thus far is 91% men and the median age is 70 years (range from 65 to 85). Several vulnerabilities were observed, including a high prevalence of comorbidities and frailty. Women especially faced financial insecurity and precarious social structures; a large proportion live alone and only 6% are married or in steady relationships. Identifying strategies to address these vulnerabilities will empower people aging with HIV to optimize their health, quality of life, and independence.

Background: frailty imparts a higher risk for hospitalisation, mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19 infection, but the broader impacts of the pandemic and associated public health measures on community-living people with frailty are less known., Methods: we used cross-sectional data from 23,974 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants who completed a COVID-19 interview (Sept-Dec 2020). Participants were included regardless of whether they had COVID-19 or not. They were asked about health, resource, relationship and health care access impacts experienced during the pandemic. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence of impacts was estimated by frailty index quartile. We further examined if the relationship with frailty was modified by sex, age or household income., Results: community-living adults (50-90 years) with greater pre-pandemic frailty reported more negative impacts during the first year of the pandemic. The frailty gradient was not explained by socio-demographic or health behaviour factors. The largest absolute difference in adjusted prevalence between the most and least frail quartiles was 15.1% (challenges accessing healthcare), 13.3% (being ill) and 7.4% (increased verbal/physical conflict). The association between frailty and healthcare access differed by age where the youngest age group tended to experience the most challenges, especially for those categorised as most frail., Conclusion: although frailty has been endorsed as a tool to inform estimates of COVID-19 risk, our data suggest it may have a broader role in primary care and public health by identifying people who may benefit from interventions to reduce health and social impacts of COVID-19 and future pandemics., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and frailty are common health problems among the elderly. This research aims to investigate the hotspots and frontiers of the field of CVD with frailty. Data of publications between 2000 and 2021 were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and CiteSpace was used for analyzing the hotspots and frontiers of cardiovascular diseases with frailty research from high-impact countries/regions, institutions, authors, cited references, cited journals, high-frequency keywords, and burst keywords. The results showed that the USA, England, and Canada were the leading countries/regions in research on CVD with frailty. Other countries/regions and regions lagged behind these developed countries/regions. There is a need to establish cooperation between developed countries/regions and developing countries/regions. Research hotspots focused on frailty in the elderly with CVD, exercise intervention, assessment for CVD patients with frailty, quality of life, and common diseases related to CVD with frailty. The frontier fields include care and intervention of CVD patients with frailty, social frailty, and validation of CVD with frailty., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Bao, Chung, Wen, Du, Sun and Wang.)

Background: Social vulnerability correlates with frailty and is associated with mortality and disability. However, few studies have investigated this relationship outside of high-income country settings. This study aimed to produce and analyze a culturally adapted social vulnerability index (SVI) to investigate the relationship between social vulnerability, frailty, and mortality in older adults in Tanzania., Methods: An SVI was produced using data from a cohort study investigating frailty in older adults in Tanzania. Variables were selected based on previous SVI studies using the categories established by Andrew et al. from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, and National Population Health Survey. The SVI distribution was examined and compared with a frailty index (FI) produced from the same sample, using mutually exclusive variables. Cox regression survival analysis was used to investigate the association between social vulnerability, frailty, and mortality., Results: A stratified cohort of 235 individuals were included in the study at baseline, with a mean age of 75.2 (SD 11.5). Twenty-six participants died within the follow-up period, with a mean of 503 days (range: 405-568) following the initial assessment. The SVI had a median score of 0.47 (interquartile range: 0.23, range: 0.14-0.86). Social vulnerability significantly predicted mortality when adjusting for age and gender, but not when also adjusting for frailty., Conclusions: Social vulnerability can be successfully operationalized and culturally adapted in Tanzania. Social vulnerability is associated with mortality in Tanzania, but not independently of frailty., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.)

Objective: To estimate the extent to which comorbidity and lifestyle factors were associated with physical frailty in middle-aged and older Canadians living with HIV., Design: Cross-sectional analysis of 856 participants from the Canadian Positive Brain Health Now cohort., Methods: The frailty indicator phenotype was adapted from Fried's criteria using self-report items. Univariate logistic regression and classification and regression tree (CaRT) models were used to identify the most relevant independent contributors to frailty., Results: In all, 100 men (14.0%) and 26 women (19.7%) were identified as frail (≥ 3/5 criteria) for an overall prevalence of 15.2%. Nine comorbidities showed an influential association with frailty. The most influential comorbidities were hypothyroidism [odds ratio (OR) = 2.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.29-5.03] and arthritis (OR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.58-4.09). Additionally, tobacco (OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.05-3.04) showed an association. Any level of alcohol consumption showed a protective effect for frailty. The CaRT model showed nine pathways that led to frailty. Arthritis was the most discriminatory variable followed by alcohol, hypothyroidism, tobacco, cancer, cannabis, liver disease, kidney disease, osteoporosis, lung disease and peripheral vascular disease. The prevalence of physical frailty for people with arthritis was 27.4%; with additional cancer or tobacco and alcohol the prevalence rates were 47.1% and 46.1%, respectively. The protective effect of alcohol consumption evident in the univariate model appeared again in the CaRT model, but this effect varied. Cognitive frailty (19.5% overall) and emotional frailty (37.9% overall) were higher than the prevalence of physical frailty., Conclusions: Specific comorbidities and tobacco use were implicated in frailty, suggesting that it is comorbidities causing frailty. However, some frailty still appears to be HIV-related. The higher prevalence of cognitive and emotional frailty highlights the fact that physical frailty should not be the only focus in HIV., (© 2022 British HIV Association.)

Background: Little is known about the prevalence and prognostic impact of preexisting frailty on acute care and in-hospital outcomes in older adults in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI)., Methods: Preexisting frailty was assessed at baseline in consecutive AMI patients ≥65 years of age treated at 778 hospitals participating in the NCDR ACTION Registry between January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016. Three domains of preexisting frailty (cognition, ambulation, and functional independence) were abstracted from chart review and summed in 2 ways: an ACTION Frailty Scale based on responses to 6 groups adapted from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale and an ACTION Frailty Score derived by summing a rank score of 0-2 assigned for each grade (total ranged between 0 to 6). Multivariable logistic regression examined the association between assigned frailty by score or scale and in-hospital mortality., Results: Among 143,722 older AMI patients, 108,059 (75.2%) were fit and/or well and 6,484 (4.5%) were vulnerable to frailty, while 7,527 (5.2%) had mild, 3,913 (2.7%) had moderate, 2,715 had (1.9%) severe, and 632 (0.4%) had very severe frailty according to the ACTION Frailty Scale, while 14,392 (10.0%) could not be categorized due to incomplete ascertainment. Frail patients were older, more frequently female, of non-white race and/or ethnicity, and less likely to be treated with guideline-recommended therapies. Increasing severity of frailty by this scale was associated with a step-wise higher risk for in-hospital mortality (P-trend < .001). Patient categories of the ACTION Frailty Score provided similar results. After adjustment, each 1-unit increase in Frailty Score was associated with a 12% higher mortality risk (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.10-1.15)., Conclusions: Among older patients with acute myocardial infarction, frailty is common and independently associated with in-hospital mortality. These findings show the importance of pragmatic evaluation of frailty in hospital-level quality scores, guideline recommendations, and incorporation into other registry data collection efforts., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Estimates of polypharmacy have primarily been derived from prescription claims, and less is known about the use of non-prescription medications (alone or in combination with prescription medications) across the frailty spectrum or by sex. Our objectives were to estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy (total, prescription, non-prescription, and concurrent prescription and non-prescription) overall, and by frailty, sex and broad age group., Data: Canadian Health Measures Survey, Cycle 5, 2016 to 2017., Methods: Among Canadians aged 40 to 79 years, all prescription and non-prescription medications used in the month prior to the survey were documented. Polypharmacy was defined as using five or more medications total (prescription and non-prescription), prescription only and non-prescription only. Concurrent prescription and non-prescription use was defined as two or more and three or more of each. Frailty was defined using a 31-item frailty index (FI) and categorized as non-frail (FI ≤ 0.1) and pre-frail or frail (FI > 0.1). Survey-weighted descriptive statistics were calculated overall and age standardized., Results: We analyzed 2,039 respondents, representing 16,638,026 Canadians (mean age of 56.9 years; 51% women). Overall, 52.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 47.3 to 57.4) were defined as pre-frail or frail. Age-standardized estimates of total polypharmacy, prescription polypharmacy and concurrent prescription and non-prescription medication use were significantly higher among pre-frail or frail versus non-frail adults (e.g., total polypharmacy: 64.1% versus 31.8%, respectively). Polypharmacy with non-prescription medications was common overall (20.5% [95% CI = 16.1 to 25.8]) and greater among women, but did not differ significantly by frailty., Interpretation: Polypharmacy and concurrent prescription and non-prescription medication use were common among Canadian adults, especially those who were pre-frail or frail. Our findings highlight the importance of considering non-prescribed medications when measuring the exposure to medications and the potential risk for adverse outcomes.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer screening improved outcomes for patients diagnosed between the age of 45-75. Present life expectancy is beyond this limit, yet there are no guidelines for these ages. We aim to identify outcomes after screening and intervention in patients ≥75 years and correlate with frailty., Materials and Methods: Records between 2011 and 2019 were queried. Patients ≥75 screened and treated for colorectal cancer were included. Patient demographics, perioperative mortality, age at last colonoscopy and frailty score were calculated. A Modified Frailty Index from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index was used. A score of 1 to 11 was calculated based on patient comorbidities. The MFI was assigned from 0 to 11: 0 signified absence of frailty and 11 indicated maximum frailty., Results: Of 179 patients were identified, 46.3% males. 171(95%) had elective and 8 (5%) had emergent surgery. The average age was 81.8 years. All colonoscopies were performed for symptoms. A modified frailty index was retrospectively calculated; 75% of patients scored between 0 and 2 and 1% scored >6., Conclusion: Older patients who underwent colonoscopy and surgery for symptomatic colon cancer had a low mortality, 2%. The average age was 6.8 years older than the recommended cutoff for colonoscopy screening. Most patients scored 0 to 2 on the modified frailty index, suggesting that not only are older patients more fit than previously thought, but also able to tolerate colorectal interventions more liberally. Utilizing frailty indices to identify screening patterns beyond 75 years of age might prove beneficial for this patient population. Further studies are recommended., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon; thanks to improvements in medical care and living standards. The Office of National Statistics in the UK predicts that the fastest growing age group in coming decades will be those over 85 years. This is reflected in Trauma Audit and Research Network data, which has highlighted a shift in caseload from a majority of young males to elderly patients at UK Major Trauma Centres (MTC). This study of elderly trauma patients admitted to a UK MTC reviews the links between frailty, using the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and outcomes from trauma., Methods: A retrospective database review of patients > 65 years old admitted to our MTC was performed. We identified 1125 eligible patients of which 729 had a recorded CFS. Those without a CFS were omitted. The primary outcome measured was in-hospital mortality. Secondary measures were Injury Severity Score, length of stay, trauma team activation on arrival and discharge destination. Multivariate regression analyses were performed using STATA v 15., Results: Those of CFS 5-9 (frail) were 2.6 times more likely to die than the CFS 1-4 (pre-frail) (OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.47-4.78). The frail group was also 56% less likely to have a trauma call on admission (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.30-0.65) and 61% less likely to be discharged to their usual place of residence (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.28-0.55)., Conclusion: We advocate the use of the Clinical Frailty Scale as a screening tool for frailty in trauma patients, highlighting those at risk of increased length of stay and mortality, subsequently assisting healthcare providers with setting realistic expectations with family members., Level of Evidence: Level III, prognostic and epidemiological., (© 2021. Crown.)

Background: 40-60% of people with HIV report experiencing loneliness, and 5-29% of PWH are frail (depending on the definition used). The risk of death in individuals who are frail and lonely, or frail and socially isolated has recently been estimated to be 1·8 times that in individuals who are not frail, lonely, or socially isolated. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of loneliness, and other vulnerabilities related to ageing, in frail older adults with HIV., Methods: We assessed frailty with the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) in a cross-sectional, convenience sample of people with HIV aged 50 years or older in Southern Alberta, Canada. All Southern Alberta Clinic patients aged 50 years or older who attended a virtual or in-person clinic visit between March and October, 2020, and who underwent frailty screening were included in the present analyses. Individuals scoring 4 or higher on the CFS then completed a structured questionnaire to provide information on additional co-factors, including loneliness (Three-item Loneliness Scale), falls, impaired gait and balance, polypharmacy, unintentional weight loss, food insecurity, and subjective cognitive concerns. Age, sex, nadir CD4 cell count, duration of known HIV infection, ethnicity, and risk category were evaluated for associations with frailty. We used t tests to compare means and Pearson χ 2 tests to compare proportions. Patients gave written informed consent for use of data. The use of data was approved by the University of Calgary Conjoint Heath Research Ethics Board., Findings: We assessed frailty in 292 older people with HIV. The mean age was 59 years (range 50-86 years) and 45 (16%) were women. On the basis of a score of 4 or greater on the CFS, 40 (14%) participants were identified as frail. Frail individuals tended to be older than those who were not frail (mean age 61·9 years, SD 8·5 versus 58·4 years, SD 6·3; t test difference 3·5, 95% CI 1·3-5·7; p=0·0011). However, there was no association between frailty status and sex, nadir CD4 cell count, duration of known HIV infection, or self-reported ethnicity. Frail individuals were more likely to report injection drug use as a component of their risk for acquisition than were non-frail individuals. Of the frail participants, 15 (42%) reported loneliness, 15 (42%) had fallen in the past year, and 18 (50%) reported impaired gait or balance. One-fifth (8) reported unintentional weight loss and 12 (33%) experienced food insecurity. Nearly 40% (14) reported subjective memory concerns., Interpretation: In this sample of ageing people with HIV, frailty and loneliness were prevalent. Given the increased risk of death when frailty and loneliness are both present, upstream and targeted interventions are urgently needed. These might include measures to address loneliness, risk of falls, weight loss, food insecurity, and memory concerns., Funding: Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, Advancing Frailty Care in the Community., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: To meet the needs of older adults with frailty better, it is essential to understand which aspects of care are important from their perspective. We therefore sought to assess the importance of a set of quality indicators (QI) for monitoring outcomes in this population., Methods: In this mixed-method study, key stakeholders completed a survey on the importance of 36 QIs, and then explained their ratings in a semi-structured interview. Stakeholders included older adults with frailty and their caregivers, healthcare providers (HCPs), and healthcare administrators or policy/decision makers (DMs). We conducted descriptive statistical analyses of quantitative variables, and deductive thematic qualitative analyses of interview transcripts., Results: The 42 participants (8 older adults, 18 HCPs, and 16 DMs) rated six QIs as more important: increasing the patients' quality of life; increasing healthcare staff skills; decreasing patients' symptoms; decreasing family caregiver burden; increasing patients' satisfaction with care; and increasing family doctor continuity of care., Conclusions: Key stakeholders prioritized QIs that focus on outcomes targeted to patients and caregivers, whereas the current healthcare systems generally focus on processes of care. Quality improvement initiatives should therefore take better account of aspects of care that are important for older adults with frailty, such as having a chance to express their individual goals of care, receiving quality communications from HCPs, or monitoring symptoms that they might not spontaneously describe. Our results point to the need for patient-centred care that is oriented toward quality of life for older adults with frailty., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Frailty, determined by the Canadian Study of Health and Aging-Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), is strongly associated with clinical outcomes including mortality in patients with COVID-19. However, the relationship between frailty and other recognised prognostic factors including age, nutritional status, obesity, sarcopenia and systemic inflammation is poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between frailty and other prognostic domains, in patients admitted with COVID-19., Methods: Patients who presented to our institutions between 1st April 2020-6th July 2020 with confirmed COVID-19 were assessed for inclusion. Data collected included general demographic details, clinicopathological variables, CFS admission assessment, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), CT-BC measurements and markers of systemic inflammation., Results: 106 patients met the study inclusion criteria. The majority of patients were aged ≥ 70 years (67%), male (53%) and frail (scoring > 3 on the CFS, 72%). The majority of patients were not malnourished (MUST 0, 58%), had ≥ 1 co-morbidity (87%), were sarcopenic (low SMI, 80%) and had systemic inflammation (mGPS ≥ 1, 81%, NLR > 5, 55%). On multivariate binary logistics regression analysis, age (p < 0.01), COPD (p < 0.05) and NLR (p < 0.05) remained independently associated with frailty. On univariate binary logistics regression, NLR (p < 0.05) was significantly associated with 30-day mortality., Conclusion: Frailty was independently associated with age, co-morbidity, and systemic inflammation. The basis of the relationship between frailty and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 requires further study. Trial registration Registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04484545)., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Frailty in older adults, characterized by a decline in multiple physiological systems and increasing vulnerability to loss of independence, disability, and death, is a public health priority in developed countries. Etiology of frailty extends across the lifespan and may begin in early life, but empirical evidence for this association is scarce. In this study, we examined whether adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with frailty in later life., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data for a population-based sample of 27,748 adults aged 45-85 years from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. The frailty index (FI) was computed with 76 health-related characteristics of physical and cognitive performance, self-rated health, chronic conditions, visual and hearing ability, activities of daily living, and well-being. Self-reported exposure to ACEs included physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing intimate partner violence prior age of 16 and parental death, divorce, and living with a family member with mental illness prior age of 18. Generalized linear regression models with gamma error distribution and identity link function, adjusted for age and sex, were used to examine associations of each ACE type and the number of ACE types (0, 1, 2, or 3+) reported by an individual with FI. All models were adjusted for income, education, smoking, and alcohol consumption in sensitivity analysis., Results: Individuals exposed to ACEs had elevated levels of FI (mean = 0.13, SD = 0.09) than those unexposed, with the largest difference observed for neglect (B [95% CI]: 0.05 [0.04, 0.06]) and the smallest for parental death and divorce (0.015 [0.01,0.02]). The ACE count was associated with frailty in a graded manner, with the FI difference reaching 0.04 [0.037, 0.044] for participants exposed to 3+ ACE types. The association between ACEs and frailty tended to be stronger for women than men and for men aged 45-64 years than older men., Conclusions: Our study supports previous studies showing that exposure to ACEs is associated with frailty in adults. Our findings suggest that screening for ACEs involving childhood maltreatment may be useful for identifying individuals at risk of frailty and prevention of ACEs may have long-term benefits for healthy aging., (© 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that even in the absence of lung impairment as determined by spirometry, smoking and respiratory symptoms are associated with poor overall health and well-being. However, this relationship is not well defined; and it remains unclear the degree to which symptoms are related to poor health, independent of smoking. This is of particular importance to older adults, as they are more likely to exhibit respiratory symptoms and are, therefore, at risk of not receiving appropriate treatment if they have never smoked and have normal spirometry., Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to delineate the associations of respiratory symptoms and smoking on the health of participants age 45-86 who exhibited normal spirometry. Participant health was estimated using a frailty index, a multidimensional measure of vulnerability to adverse outcomes that has been validated in numerous health settings., Results: Of the 21,293 participants included in our analysis, 87% exhibited a normal FEV 1 , FVC, and FEV 1 /FVC; of those, 45% reported at least one respiratory symptom, and 50% were former or current smokers. Both respiratory symptoms and smoking were independently associated with frailty (median interquartile range [IQR] = 0.11 [0.07-0.15]), the most substantial associations observed for those having at least one respiratory symptom (adjusted β 0.023, 95% CI 0.022-0.025) and current smokers with > 10 pack-year exposure (adjusted β 0.014, 95% CI [0.010-0.019). Not only was the association between symptoms and frailty evident in never smokers, a significant proportion of the total effect of smoking on frailty was observed to be mediated by symptoms., Conclusions: Our data show that respiratory symptoms, regardless of smoking history, were a significant correlate of frailty in older adults with normal spirometry. Hence, they should not be simply regarded as a benign by-product of aging., Competing Interests: The authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 by Daedalus Enterprises.)

Background: Although multidimensional frailty scales have been proven to predict mortality and morbidity in cardiac surgery, there is a need for rapid tools that could be easily administered at the point of care. Handgrip strength (HGS) is an attractive option that can be measured in acutely ill and bed-bound patients, although it has yet to be validated in a large cardiac surgery cohort., Methods: This is a post hoc analysis of a multicentre prospective study in older patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and/or valve surgery from 2011 to 2019. HGS was measured before surgery and classified by sex-stratified cutoffs. The primary outcome was 1-year mortality and secondary outcomes were 30-day mortality, discharge disposition, and prolonged length of stay., Results: There were 1245 patients included in the analysis (mean age 74.0 ± 6.6 years; 30% female). Weak HGS was associated with advanced age, heart failure, kidney disease, malnutrition, and various frailty scales. In those with weak vs normal HGS, respectively, 1-year mortality was 17% vs 6%, 30-day mortality was 10% vs 3%, prolonged length of stay was 34% vs 19%, and discharge to a health care facility was 45% vs 26% (all P < 0.001). After adjustment, HGS was predictive of 1-year and 30-day mortalities, with odds ratios of 2.44 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-4.29) and 2.83 (1.38-5.81), respectively. HGS cutoffs of < 26 kg in men and < 16 kg in women had the highest predictive performance., Conclusions: HGS is a simple and effective tool to identify patients at higher risk of mortality and protracted recovery after cardiac surgery., (Copyright © 2021 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Deficit accumulation frailty indices (FIs) are widely used to characterize frailty. FIs vary in number and composition of items; the impact of this variation on reliability and clinical applicability is unknown., Method: We simulated 12 000 studies using a set of 70 candidate deficits in 12 080 community-dwelling participants 65 years and older. For each study, we varied the number (5, 10, 15, 25, 35, 45) and composition (random selection) of items defining the FI and calculated descriptive and predictive estimates: frailty score, prevalence, frailty cutoff, mortality odds ratio, predicted probability of mortality for FI = 0.28 (prevalence threshold), and FI cutoff predicting 10% mortality over the follow-up. We summarized the estimates' medians and spreads (0.025-0.975 quantiles) by number of items and calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs)., Results: Medians of frailty scores were 0.11-0.12 with decreasing spreads from 0.04-0.24 to 0.10-0.14 for 5-item and 45-item FIs. The median cutoffs identifying 15% as frail was 0.19-0.20 and stable; the spreads decreased with more items. However, medians and spreads for the prevalence of frailty (median: 11%-3%), mortality odds ratio (median: 1.24-2.19), predicted probability of mortality (median: 8%-17%), and FI cutoff predicting 10% mortality (median: 0.38-0.20) varied markedly. ICC increased from 0.19 (5-item FIs) to 0.84 (45-item FIs)., Conclusions: Variability in the number and composition of items of individual FIs strongly influences their reliability. Estimates using FIs may not be sufficiently stable for generalizing results or direct application. We propose avenues to improve the development, reporting, and interpretation of FIs., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

Background: Older Canadians are high users of health care services, however the health care system is not well-designed to meet the complex needs of many older adults. Older persons often look to their primary care practitioners to assess their needs and coordinate their care. The intervention seeks to improve primary care for older persons living with frailty and will be implemented in six primary care clinics in three Canadian provinces. Presently, more than 1.6 million older Canadians are living with frailty, and this is projected to increase to 2.5 million within a decade (Canadian Frailty Network, Frailty Matters, 2020). The model will include frailty screening, an online portal to expedite referrals and improve coordination with community services, and several tools and techniques to support patient and family engagement and shared decision-making. Our project is guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) (Damschroder LJ, et al. Implement Scil, 4, 50, 2009). As others have done, we adapted the CFIR for our work. Our adapted framework combines elements of the socio-ecological model, key concepts from the CFIR, and elements from other implementation science frameworks. Nested within a broader mixed-method implementation study, the focus of this paper is to outline our guiding conceptual framework and qualitative methods protocol., Methods: We will use the adapted CFIR framework to inform the data we collect and our analytic approach. Our work is divided into three phases: (1) baseline assessment of 'usual care'; (2) tailoring and implementing a new primary care model; and (3) evaluation. In each of these phases we will engage in qualitative data collection, including clinical observations, focus groups, in-depth interviews and extensive field notes. At each site we will collect data with health care providers, key informants (e.g., executive directors), and rostered patients ≥ 70 years. We will engage in team-based analysis across multiple sites, three provinces and two languages through regular telephone conferences, a comprehensive analysis codebook, leadership from our Qualitative Working Group and a collective appreciation that "science is a team sport" (Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 471, 701-702, 2013)., Discussion: Outcomes of this research may be used by other research teams who chose to adapt the CFIR framework to reflect the unique contexts of their work, and clinicians seeking to implement our model, or other models of care for frail older patients in primary care., Trial Registration: U.S. National Library of Medicine, NCT03442426 . Registered 22 February 2018- Retrospectively registered., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To examine frailty and comorbidity as predictors of outcome of nephron sparing surgery (NSS) and as decision tools for identifying candidates for active surveillance (AS) or tumor ablation (TA)., Methods: Frailty and comorbidity were assessed using the modified frailty index of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (11-CSHA) and the age-adjusted Charlson-Comorbidity Index (aaCCI) as well as albumin and the radiological skeletal-muscle-index (SMI) in a cohort of n = 447 patients with localized renal masses. Renal tumor anatomy was classified according to the RENAL nephrometry system. Regression analyses were performed to assess predictors of surgical outcome of patients undergoing NSS as well as to identify possible influencing factors of patients undergoing alternative therapies (AS/TA)., Results: Overall 409 patient underwent NSS while 38 received AS or TA. Patients undergoing TA/AS were more likely to be frail or comorbid compared to patients undergoing NSS (aaCCI: p < 0.001, 11-CSHA: p < 0.001). Gender and tumor complexity did not vary between patients of different treatment approach. 11-CSHA and aaCCI were identified as independent predictors of major postoperative complications (11-CSHA ≥ 0.27: OR = 3.6, p = 0.001) and hospital re-admission (aaCCI ≥ 6: OR = 4.93, p = 0.003) in the NSS cohort. No impact was found for albumin levels and SMI. An aaCCI > 6 and/or 11-CSHA ≥ 0.27 (OR = 9.19, p < 0.001), a solitary kidney (OR = 5.43, p = 0.005) and hypoalbuminemia (OR = 4.6, p = 0.009), but not tumor complexity, were decisive factors to undergo AS or TA rather than NSS., Conclusion: In patients with localized renal masses, frailty and comorbidity indices can be useful to predict surgical outcome and support decision-making towards AS or TA., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objective: To evaluate the pattern of frailty across several of social stratifiers associated with health inequalities., Design, Setting and Participants: Cross-sectional baseline data on 51 338 community-living women and men aged 45-85 years from the population-based Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (collected from September 2011 to May 2015) were used in this study., Primary Outcomes and Measures: A Frailty Index (FI) was constructed using self-reported chronic conditions, psychological function and cognitive status and physical functioning variables. Social stratifiers were chosen based on the Pan-Canadian Health Inequalities Reporting Initiative, reflecting key health inequalities in Canada. Unadjusted and adjusted FIs and domain-specific FIs (based on chronic conditions, physical function, psychological/cognitive deficits) were examined across population strata., Results: The overall mean FI was 0.13±0.08. It increased with age and was higher in women than men. Higher mean FIs were found among study participants with low income (0.20±0.10), who did not complete secondary education (0.17±0.09) or had low perceived social standing (0.18±0.10). Values did not differ by Canadian province of residence or urban/rural status. After simultaneously adjusting for population characteristics and other covariates, income explained the most heterogeneity in frailty, especially in younger age groups; similar patterns were found for men and women. The average frailty for people aged 45-54 in the lowest income group was greater than that for those aged 75-85 years. The heterogeneity in the FI among income groups was greatest for the psychological/cognitive domain., Conclusions: Our results suggest that especially in the younger age groups, psychological/cognitive deficits are most highly associated with both overall frailty levels and the gradient in frailty associated with income. If this is predictive of later increases in the other two domains (and overall frailty), it raises the question whether targeting mental health factors earlier in life might be an effective approach to mitigating frailty., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Frailty has been shown to be a good predictor of post-operative complications and death in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences between frail and non-frail patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery, as well as the impact of frailty on long-term survival in these patients., Methods: A cohort of 149 patients aged 70 years and older who underwent elective surgery for colorectal cancer was followed-up for at least 5 years. The sample was divided into two groups: frail and non-frail patients. The Canadian Study of Health and Aging-Clinical Frailty Scale (CSHA-CFS) was used to detect frailty. The two groups were compared with regard to demographic data, comorbidities, functional and cognitive statuses, surgical risk, surgical variables, tumor extent, and post-operative outcomes, which were mortality at 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year after the procedure. Univariate and multivariate analyses were also performed to determine which of the predictive variables were related to 5-year survival., Results: Out of the 149 patients, 96 (64.4%) were men and 53 (35.6%) were women, with a median age of 75 years (IQR 72-80). According to the CSHA-CFS scale, 59 (39.6%) patients were frail, and 90 (60.4%) patients were not frail. Frail patients were significantly older and had more impaired cognitive status, worse functional status, more comorbidities, more operative mortality, and more serious complications than non-frail patients. Comorbidities, as measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index (p = 0.001); the Lawton-Brody Index (p = 0.011); failure to perform an anastomosis (p = 0.024); nodal involvement (p = 0.005); distant metastases (p < 0.001); high TNM stage (p = 0.004); and anastomosis dehiscence (p = 0.013) were significant univariate predictors of a poor prognosis on univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis of long-term survival, with adjustment for age, frailty, comorbidities and TNM stage, showed that comorbidities (p = 0.002; HR 1.30; 95% CI 1.10-1.54) and TNM stage (p = 0.014; HR 2.06; 95% CI 1.16-3.67) were the only independent risk factors for survival at 5 years., Conclusions: Frailty is associated with poor short-term post-operative outcomes, but it does not seem to affect long-term survival in older patients with colorectal cancer. Instead, comorbidities and tumor stage are good predictors of long-term survival.

Aims: There is currently no gold standard in evaluating frailty in patients with heart failure (HF), and the prognostic value of frailty according to the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) on mortality in patients with HF is still unknown., Methods and Results: Among consecutive 596 patients after their discharge from HF in Kokura Memorial Hospital (Kitakyushu, Japan) during 2015, their frailty at discharge was assessed according to CFS. Patients were classified into three groups: low (N = 232, 38.9%), intermediate (N = 230, 38.6%), and high (N = 134, 22.5%). The primary endpoint was defined as 2 year all-cause death. The mean age was 76.6 ± 10.1 years, and 55.3% were men in entire cohort. There were significant differences in age, living environment, and dementia among low, intermediate, and high CFS groups. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and co-morbidities such as severe renal failure and severe anaemia tended to increase with frailty severity, while body mass index (BMI) and albumin level tended to decrease with frailty severity. Two year cumulative incidences of all-cause death for the three groups were 12.8%, 25.4%, and 52.7% (P < 0.001), respectively. This significant difference in the risk for all-cause death among the CFS groups was driven by the risk for cardiac (8.6%, 14.2%, and 31.0%, respectively, P < 0.001) and non-cardiac death (4.6%, 13.0%, and 31.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). The multivariate analysis showed that high frailty was independently associated with all-cause death (intermediate CFS group: adjusted hazard ratio, 1.43, 95% confidence interval, 0.86-2.36, P = 0.16; high CFS group: adjusted hazard ratio, 3.90, 95% confidence interval, 2.32-6.55, P < 0.001), and this result was consistent, irrespective of stratification based on age, sex, BMI, and LVEF without significant interaction., Conclusions: The simple CFS tool was successful in predicting the risk for all-cause death in patients with HF, and frailty according to CFS was independently associated with all-cause death irrespective of stratification based on age, sex, BMI, and LVEF without significant interaction. The CFS is a valuable prognostic tool in clinical settings., (© 2021 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of surgical complexity on postoperative complications and mortality, according to patient's frailty (mFI) following surgery for ovarian cancer., Methods: Patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer from 2008 to 2018 were identified from our database. A surgical complexity score from 1 to 3 was used to assess the extent of surgery (simple to complex, respectively). mFI with 11 variables, based on mapping the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index to the NSQIP comorbidities was evaluated. Data were analyzed using Fisher exact test, independent sample t-test, and logistic regression., Results: Of 263 patients identified, 33% reported at least one postoperative complication and 6% had severe complications. BMI ≥ 30 (p = 0.04) increased mFI (p = 0.04) and high-complexity surgery (p < 0.001) were independent predictors of severe complications (G3-G5). Patients with high frailty index score (mFI ≥ 3) who underwent intermediate or high-complexity surgery were at higher risk of severe complications ranging from 29.4% to 50., Conclusions: The combined evaluation of mFI and surgical complexity expected may identify patients at higher risk for severe morbidity allowing to stratify patients who are less likely to tolerate a surgical extensive treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Frailty has emerged as an important clinical measurement among older adults because of its negative health outcomes., Objective: This study measured the prevalence and factors associated with frailty among older adults aged 60 years and above at a Geriatric Centre in Nigeria., Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 971 older adults were recruited consecutively. Data on sociodemographics characteristics and clinical parameters were obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and physical examination performed. The Frailty syndrome and Frailty Index were assessed using the Fried Frailty Criteria (FFC) and Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) scale respectively. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out using SPSS version 21 at a p <0.05., Results: The mean age of the participants was 71.3 (± 7.1) years with a female to male ratio of 2.4:1. Based on FFC scale, 498 older persons (51.3%) had frailty syndrome while only 148 (15.2%) were frail using the CSHA scale. The measure of agreement (Kappa statistics) was 0.22 (p<0001) indicating weak agreement between the two scales. Logistic regression analysis revealed increasing age (OR=1.948 [1.219-3.113]), multiple morbidities (OR= 1.584, [1.177-2.201]), depression (OR= 5.050, [2.501-9.442,]), imbalance or increased risk of fall (OR 1.623, [1.192-2.211,]), and inability to perform IADL (OR= 0.599 [0.535-0.670,]) to be the most significant determinants of frailty syndrome while obesity (OR=0.660, [0.449-0.971]), unusually appeared a deterrent., Conclusion: The prevalence of frailty syndrome was high among the older adults. Targeted and timely interventions on the modifiable factors may delay progression into frailty and the eventual negative health outcomes., Competing Interests: The Authors declare that no competing interest exists

Objective: There is a lack of studies disentangling whether changes in frailty are associated with subsequent changes in depressive symptoms or vice versa among the oldest old. Consequently, we aimed to disentangle this link., Design: Three waves [follow-up (FU) wave 7 to FU wave 9; n = 423 individuals in the analytical sample] were used from the multicenter prospective cohort study "Needs, Health Service Use, Costs and Health-Related Quality of Life in a Large Sample of Oldest-Old Primary Care Patients (85+)" (AgeQualiDe)., Setting and Participants: Primary care patients aged 85 years and older., Methods: The Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) was used to quantify frailty, and the Geriatric Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. It was adjusted for several covariates (sociodemographic and health-related factors) in regression analysis., Results: Multiple linear regressions with first differences showed that initial increases in depressive symptoms (from FU wave 7 to FU wave 8) were associated with subsequent increases in frailty (from FU wave 8 to FU wave 9; β = 0.06, P < .05), whereas initial increases in frailty (from FU wave 7 to FU wave 8) were not associated with subsequent increases in depressive symptoms (from FU wave 8 to FU wave 9)., Conclusions and Implications: The study findings suggest the relevance of increases in depressive symptoms for subsequent increases in frailty. Treatment of depressive symptoms may also be beneficial to postpone frailty., (Copyright © 2020 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background/objectives: Influenza is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, particularly for older adults. Persistent functional decline following hospitalization has important impacts on older adults' wellbeing and independence, but has been under-studied in relation to influenza. We aimed to investigate persistent functional change in older adults admitted to hospital with influenza and other acute respiratory illness (ARI)., Design: Protective observational cohort study., Setting: Canadian Immunization Research Network Serious Outcomes Surveillance Network 2011 to 2012 influenza season., Participants: A total of 925 patients aged 65 and older admitted to hospital with influenza and other ARI., Measurements: Influenza was laboratory-confirmed. Frailty was measured using a Frailty index (FI). Functional status was measured using the Barthel index (BI); moderate persistent functional decline was defined as a clinically meaningful loss of ≥10 to <20 points on the 100-point BI. Catastrophic disability (CD) was defined as a loss of ≥20 points, equivalent to full loss of independence in two basic activities of daily living., Results: Five hundred and nineteen (56.1%) were women; mean age was 79.4 (standard deviation=8.4) years. Three hundred and forty-six (37.4%) had laboratory-confirmed influenza. Influenza cases had lower baseline function (BI = 77.0 vs 86.9, P < .001) and higher frailty (FI = 0.23 vs 0.20, P < .001) than those with other ARI. A total of 8.4% died, 8.2% experienced persistent moderate functional decline, and 9.9% experienced CD. Higher baseline frailty was associated with increased odds of experiencing functional decline, CD, and death. The experience of functional decline and CD, and its association with frailty, was the same for influenza and other ARI., Conclusion: Functional loss in hospital is common among older adults; for some this functional loss is persistent and catastrophic. This highlights the importance of prevention and optimal management of acute declines in health, including influenza, to avoid hospitalization. In the case of influenza, for which vaccines exist, this raises the potential of vaccine preventable disability., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Background: frailty is a public health priority now that the global population is ageing at a rapid rate. A scientifically sound tool to measure frailty and generate population-based reference values is a starting point., Objective: in this report, our objectives were to operationalize frailty as deficit accumulation using a standard frailty index (FI), describe levels of frailty in Canadians ≥45 years old and provide national normative data., Design: this is a secondary analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) baseline data., Setting/participants: about 51,338 individuals (weighted to represent 13,232,651 Canadians), aged 45-85 years, from the tracking and comprehensive cohorts of CLSA., Methods: after screening all available variables in the pooled dataset, 52 items were selected to construct an FI. Descriptive statistics for the FI and normative data derived from quantile regressions were developed., Results: the average age of the participants was 60.3 years (95% confidence interval [CI]: 60.2-60.5), and 51.5% were female (95% CI: 50.8-52.2). The mean FI score was 0.07 (95% CI: 0.07-0.08) with a standard deviation of 0.06. Frailty was higher among females and with increasing age, and scores >0.2 were present in 4.2% of the sample. National normative data were identified for each year of age for males and females., Conclusions: the standardized frailty tool and the population-based normative frailty values can help inform discussions about frailty, setting a new bar in the field. Such information can be used by clinicians, researchers, stakeholders and the general public to understand frailty, especially its relationship with age and sex., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This research investigated the effects of social isolation on frailty and health outcomes and tested whether these associations varied across different levels of frailty. We performed a multivariate analysis of the first wave of Frailty: A longitudinal study of its expressions (FRéLE) among 1643 Canadian older adults aged 65 years and over. We assessed social isolation using social participation, social networks, and support from various social ties, namely, friends, children, extended family, and partner. Frailty was associated with disability, comorbidity, depression, and cognitive decline. Less social participation was associated with limitations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), depression, and cognitive decline. The absence of friends was associated with depression and cognitive impairment. Less social support from children and partner was related to comorbidity, depression, and cognitive decline. Overall, social isolation is linked to mental health rather than physical health. The associations of having no siblings, receiving less support from friends, and participating less in social activities with ADL limitations, depression, and cognitive decline were higher among frail than prefrail and robust older adults. This study corroborates the pivotal role of social connectedness, particularly the quality of relationships, on the mental health of older adults. Public health policies on social relationships are paramount to ameliorate the health status of frail older adults.

Objective: To investigate the association between frailty and a summary cardiovascular risk measure (Framingham Risk Score, FRS) in a sample of older adults from different epidemiologic contexts participating in the multicenter International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS)., Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the IMIAS, which is composed of older adults from four different countries (Canada, Albania, Colombia and Brazil). A total of 1724 older adults aged 65-74 years were assessed. Frailty was defined as the presence of 3 or more of the following criteria: unintentional weight loss in the last year, exhaustion, muscle weakness, slowness in gait speed, and low levels of physical activity. The FRS was calculated to estimate the 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), based on: sex, age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and treatment for hypertension, total and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, diabetes mellitus status and smoking habits. Confounders included measures of childhood social and economic adversity, as well as mid-life and adult adversity., Results: After adjustment for adversities which occurred during in early, adult or current life, frail individuals presented higher FRS values (β = 3.81, 95 %CI: 0.97-6.65, p-value <0.001) when compared to robust participants. A statistically significant relationship was also observed in prefrail participants with FRS (β = 1.61, 95 % CI: 0.72-3.02, p-value <0.05)., Conclusion: Frailty and prefrailty were associated to FRS, independent of life course adversities. Screening cardiovascular risk factors should be a target, mainly in those who present frailty syndrome., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Fried's Phenotype Model of Frailty (PMF) postulates that frailty is a syndrome. Features of a syndrome are a heterogeneous population that can be split into at least two classes, those presenting and those not presenting the syndrome. Syndromes are characterized by a specific mixture of signs and symptoms which increase in prevalence, from less to more severe classes. So far, the null hypothesis of homogeneity - signs and symptoms of frailty cannot identify at least two classes - has been tested using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) on the five dichotomized components of PMF (unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity). The aim of this study is to investigate further the construct validity of frailty as a syndrome using the extension offered by Factor Mixture Models (FMM)., Methods: LCA on dichotomized scores and FMM on continuous scores were conducted to test homogeneity on the five PMF components in a sample of 1643 community-dwelling older adults living in Québec, Canada (FRéLE)., Results: With dichotomized LCA, three frailty classes were found: robust, prefrail and frail, and the hypothesis of homogeneity was rejected. However, in FMM, frailty was better represented as a continuous variable than as latent heterogeneous classes. Thus, the PMF measurement model of frailty did not meet the features of a syndrome in this study., Conclusion: Using the FRéLE cohort, the PMF measurement model validity is questioned. Valid measurement of a syndrome depends on an understanding of its etiological factors and pathophysiological processes, and on a modelling of how the measured components are linked to these processes. Without these features, assessing frailty in a clinical setting may not improve patient health. Research on frailty should address these issues before promoting its use in clinical settings.

Purpose: We aimed to describe the association of two frailty screening tools, the validated Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) score and the recently described modified Frailty Index (mFI) in critically ill patients., Materials and Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter cohort of patients admitted to six Canadian Intensive Care Units (ICU) between 2010 and 2011. Frailty was screened using the CFS and the mFI. Concordance between these tools was evaluated, as well as discrimination and predictive ability for clinical outcomes after adjustments., Results: The cohort included 421 patients. Prevalence of frailty was 32.8% with the CFS and 39.2% with the mFI. However, concordance between the two tools was low [(intraclass correlation of 0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.29-0.45) and partial Spearman rank correlation of 0.38 (95% CI 0.29-0.47)]. Hospital and 1-year mortality, as well as dependency after discharge and hospital readmission, were greater for frail compared to non-frail patients screened with the use of both tools., Conclusion: While the CFS and mFI showed low concordance, both showed good discrimination and predictive validity for hospital mortality. Both tools identify a subgroup of frail patients more likely to have worse clinical outcomes., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The relationship between frailty and nocturnal voiding is poorly understood., Aim: To characterize the association between frailty, as defined by a frailty index (FI) based upon the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) criteria, and nocturia, defined by measures of nocturnal urine production., Methods: Real-world retrospective analysis of voiding diaries from elderly males with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) at an outpatient urology clinic. Males ≥ 65 years with ≥ 2 nocturnal voids were included. A modified FI was calculated from the LUTS database, which captured 39 variables from the original CSHA FI. Patients were divided into 3 groups by modified FI: low (≤ 0.077) (n = 59), intermediate (> 0.077 and < 0.179) (n = 58), and high (≥ 0.179) (n = 41). Diary parameters were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test and pairwise comparisons with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Bonferroni adjustment., Results: The high frailty group was characterized by higher nocturnal urine volume (NUV), maximum voided volume (MVV), nocturnal maximum voided volume (NMVV), and nocturnal urine production (NUP). The presence of comorbid diabetes mellitus did not explain this effect., Conclusion: Elderly males seeking treatment for LUTS with a high frailty burden are disproportionately affected by excess nocturnal urine production. Future research on the mechanistic relationship between urine production and functional impairment is warranted.

Frailty is prevalent in persons with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH), but factors predisposing older PWH to frailty remain uncertain. We examined factors associated with frailty and determined whether there were multiple frailty subtypes in older adults with controlled HIV infection. This was a cross-sectional outpatient study in an urban HIV clinic. Twenty-nine clinical indicators were extracted from medical records to compute a Frailty Index (FI) for 389 older (age 50+) PWH (range = 50-93; mean = 61.1, standard deviation = 7.2; 85% men) receiving HIV treatment in Calgary, Canada. We used regressions to identify factors associated with FI values. Latent class analysis was used to identify FI subtypes. Age, employment status, and duration of known HIV infection were the strongest predictors of FI ( p' s < 0.05). Four FI subtypes were identified. Subtype 1 (severe metabolic dysfunction+polypharmacy) had the highest mean FI (0.30). Subtype 2 (less severe metabolic dysfunction+polypharmacy) and Subtype 3 (lung and liver dysfunction+polypharmacy) had lower but equivalent mean FIs (0.20 for each). Subtype 4 (least severe metabolic dysfunction) had the lowest mean FI (0.13; p' s < 0.001). Sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics differed among the subtypes. Individuals with Subtype 1 were older and more frequently unemployed/retired, whereas those with Subtype 3 were more likely to smoke, use crack/cocaine, have heavy alcohol use, and live in temporary/unstable housing. The clinical presentation of frailty in older PWH is heterogeneous. The metabolic syndrome, hepatitis C virus coinfection, cirrhosis, lung disease, and polypharmacy were associated with frailty as were unemployment/retirement, unstable housing, and substance use.