Abstract
This study was to create a simple frailty measure for nursing home residents using the Minimum Data Set (MDS). Method: MDS items comparable with the FRAIL-NH scale were extracted. Frailty status was calculated based on the following eight components: fatigue, resistance, ambulation, incontinence, polypharmacy, loss of weight, nutritional approach, and help with dressing. We included 2,380 elders residing in six nursing homes in Hong Kong between 2005 and 2013 to test the predictive validity of the resulted scale against major adverse health outcomes. Results: The proposed frailty scale was independently predictive of incident falls, worsening function, incident hospitalization, and mortality, with hazard ratios ranging from 2.00 to 3.73, adjusting for gender, age, education, cognitive performance, and the presence of prevalent diseases. Implications: We provided a simple and reliable scale to identify frail persons in nursing homes and for developing effective intervention schemes.