Table 1.
Characteristics of study participants for the electronic Frailty Score development and internal validation.
| Variables | All | Non-Frail | Frail | p-value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cohort participants with FP assessment and ≥ one admission in acute care at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment | n (%) | 469 (100·0) | 402 (85·7) | 67 (14·3) | |
| Age at FP assessment (years) | <0·0001 | ||||
| 66-70 | n (%) | 225 (48·0) | 205 (51·0) | 20 (29·9) | |
| 71-75 | n (%) | 155 (33·0) | 132 (32·8) | 23 (34·3) | |
| 76-80 | n (%) | 89 (19·0) | 65 (16·2) | 24 (35·8) | |
| Sex | 0·017 | ||||
| Female | n (%) | 244 (52·0) | 200 (49·8) | 44 (65·7) | |
| Male | n (%) | 225 (48·0) | 202 (50·2) | 23 (34·3) | |
| Number of stays in acute care at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment | <0·0001 | ||||
| 1 | n (%) | 358 (76·3) | 320 (79·6) | 38 (56·7) | |
| 2-5 | n (%) | 111 (23·7) | 82 (20·4) | 29 (43·3) | |
| Cumulative length of stay in acute care at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment (days) | <0·0001 | ||||
| 1-2 | n (%) | 100 (21·3) | 94 (23·4) | 6 (9·0) | |
| 3-7 | n (%) | 134 (28·6) | 118 (29·4) | 16 (23·9) | |
| 8-13 | n (%) | 114 (24·3) | 103 (25·6) | 11 (16·4) | |
| 14-131 | n (%) | 121 (25·8) | 87 (21·6) | 34 (50·7) | |
| Urgent admission at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment | 0·509 | ||||
| 0 | n (%) | 224 (47·8) | 195 (48·5) | 29 (43·3) | |
| ≥ 1 | n (%) | 245 (52·2) | 207 (51·5) | 38 (56·7) | |
| Cumulative time spent in ICU at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment (hours) | 0·002 | ||||
| 0 | n (%) | 410 (87·4) | 360 (89·6) | 50 (74·6) | |
| > 0 | n (%) | 59 (12·6) | 42 (10·4) | 17 (25·4) | |
| Time interval between discharge from the last stay at CHUV in acute care and FP assessment (days) | 0·009 | ||||
| 0-29 | n (%) | 41 (8·7) | 33 (8·2) | 8 (11·9) | |
| 30-89 | n (%) | 114 (24·3) | 89 (22·1) | 25 (37·3) | |
| 90-365 | n (%) | 314 (67·0) | 280 (69·7) | 34 (50·7) | |
| Mortality w/in 12 months after FP assessment | n (%) | 17 (3·6) | 10 (2·5) | 7 (10·4) | 0·005 |
| Institutionalisation w/in 12 months after FP assessment | n (%) | 10 (2·1) | 6 (1·5) | 4 (6·0) | 0·041 |
| At least one prolonged stay at CHUV in acute care (> 8 days) w/in 12 months after FP assessment | n (%) | 59 (12·6) | 42 (10·4) | 17 (25·4) | 0·002 |
| Age at FP assessment (years) | mean (SD) | 71·6 (3·55) | 71·3 (3·45) | 73·2 (3·77) | |
| median (min-Max) | 71 (66-80) | 70 (66-70) | 73 (66-79) | 0·0002 | |
| Number of hospitalisations in acute care at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessment | mean (SD) | 1·3 (0·70) | 1·3 (0·64) | 1·7 (0·91) | |
| median (min-Max) | 1 (1-5) | 1 (1-5) | 1 (1-5) | 0·0001 | |
| Number of diagnoses coded w/in 12 months before FP assessment | mean (SD) | 6·9 (6·31) | 6·2 (5·52) | 11·0 (8·75) | |
| median (min-Max) | 5 (1-40) | 5 (1-39) | 9 (1-40) | 0·0001 | |
| Cumulative length of stay in acute care at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessments (days) | mean (SD) | 11·7 (15·00) | 10·3 (13·42) | 19·8 (20·60) | |
| median (min-Max) | 8 (1-131) | 7 (1-131) | 14 (1-102) | 0·0001 | |
| Time interval between discharge from the last stay in acute care at CHUV and FP assessment (days) | mean (SD) | 155·3 (100·27) | 159·5 (100·66) | 129·7 (94·64) | |
| median (min-Max) | 132 (8-364) | 137 (12-364) | 95 (7-342) | 0·0192 | |
| Cumulative time spent in ICU at CHUV w/in 12 months before FP assessments (hours) | mean (SD) | 18·6 (90·53) | 14·6 (81·74) | 42·4 (129·79) | |
| median (min-Max) | 0 (0-1049) | 0 (0-1049) | 0 (0-779) | 0·0005 | |
| non-zero n (%) | 59 (12·6) | 42 (10·4) | 17 (25·4) | ||
| Number of acute care admissions at CHUV w/in 12 months after FP assessment | mean (SD) | 0·4 (0·82) | 0·3 (0·77) | 0·8 (0·98) | |
| median (min-Max) | 0 (0-6) | 0 (0-6) | 1 (0-4) | 0·0001 | |
| non-zero n (%) | 126 (26·9) | 90 (22·4) | 36 (53·7) | ||
| Electronic Frailty Score | mean (SD) | 2·1 (1·67) | 2·0 (1·59) | 2·8 (1·91) | |
| median (min-Max) | 2 (0-9) | 2 (0-9) | 2 (0-8) | 0·0003 | |
| non-zero n (%) | 405 (86·4) | 342 (85·1) | 63 (94·0) | ||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index† | mean (SD) | 0·9 (1·60) | 0·8 (1·57) | 1·4 (1·68) | |
| median (min-Max) | 0 (0-9) | 0 (0-9) | 1 (0-7) | 0·0009 | |
| non-zero n (%) | 167 (35·6) | 132 (32·8) | 35 (52·2) | ||
FP=Fried's frailty phenotype; ICU=intensive care unit. CHUV=Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (Lausanne University Hospital); SD=standard deviation.
* Comparisons between frail and non-frail participants using a one-way analysis of variance on ranks (Mann–Whitney U test) for continuous variables and a two-sided Fisher's exact test for categorical variables.
†2011 updated Charlson comorbidity index.
Except for the first row of the table, we have provided column percentages. We calculated the length of stay as the discharge date minus the admission date for each stay in acute care.