Association of frailty in the elderly in primary care with morbidity and mortality

Introduction: The elderly population are the largest users of hospital care. However, they are not a homogeneous population and some are frail. Objective: To assess the value of using predictive frailty measures in the elderly. Methods: A cohort study was conducted with 380 community-dwelling elderly receiving primary care at home. Results: The following variables were associated with mortality: CFS (HR) 5.9 (95 % CI 3.1 to 11.2); EQ-5D - HR 6.3 (95 % CI 2.1 to 18.6); EQ-VAS - HR 7.0 (95 % CI 2.3 to 20.9). Conclusions: simple measures of physical health, mental health and general frailty are strong predictors of mortality, hospitalization and AAR