TY - JOUR
T1 - A cross-sectional study examining convergent validity of a frailty index based on electronic medical records in a Canadian primary care program
AU - Abbasi, Marjan
AU - Khera, Sheny
AU - Dabravolskaj, Julia
AU - Vandermeer, Ben
AU - Theou, Olga
AU - Rolfson, Darryl
AU - Clegg, Andrew
N1 - Funding Information:
The SCH research program was funded by the Covenant Health Network of Excellence in Seniors’ Health and Wellness.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/4/16
Y1 - 2019/4/16
N2 - Background: An electronic frailty index (eFI) has been developed and validated in the UK; it uses data from primary care electronic medical records (EMR) for effective frailty case-finding in primary care. This project examined the convergent validity of the eFI from Canadian primary care EMR data with a validated frailty index based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA), in order to understand its potential use in the Canadian context. Methods: A cross-sectional validation study, using data from an integrated primary care research program for seniors living with frailty in Edmonton, AB. Eighty-five patients 65 years of age and older from six primary care physicians' practices were recruited. Patients were excluded if they were under 65 years of age, did not provide consent to participate in the program, or were living in a long term care facility at the time of enrolment. We used scatter plots to assess linearity and Pearson correlation coefficients to examine correlations. Results: Results indicate a strong statistically significant correlation between the eFI and FI-CGA (r = 0.72, 95% CI 0.60-0.81, p < 0.001). A simple linear regression showed good ability of the eFI scores to predict FI-CGA scores (F (1,83) = 89.06, p <.0001, R2 = 0.51). Both indices were also correlated with age, number of chronic conditions and number of medications. Conclusions: The study findings support the convergent validity of the eFI, which further justifies implementation of a case-finding tool that uses routinely collected primary care data in the Canadian context.
AB - Background: An electronic frailty index (eFI) has been developed and validated in the UK; it uses data from primary care electronic medical records (EMR) for effective frailty case-finding in primary care. This project examined the convergent validity of the eFI from Canadian primary care EMR data with a validated frailty index based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA), in order to understand its potential use in the Canadian context. Methods: A cross-sectional validation study, using data from an integrated primary care research program for seniors living with frailty in Edmonton, AB. Eighty-five patients 65 years of age and older from six primary care physicians' practices were recruited. Patients were excluded if they were under 65 years of age, did not provide consent to participate in the program, or were living in a long term care facility at the time of enrolment. We used scatter plots to assess linearity and Pearson correlation coefficients to examine correlations. Results: Results indicate a strong statistically significant correlation between the eFI and FI-CGA (r = 0.72, 95% CI 0.60-0.81, p < 0.001). A simple linear regression showed good ability of the eFI scores to predict FI-CGA scores (F (1,83) = 89.06, p <.0001, R2 = 0.51). Both indices were also correlated with age, number of chronic conditions and number of medications. Conclusions: The study findings support the convergent validity of the eFI, which further justifies implementation of a case-finding tool that uses routinely collected primary care data in the Canadian context.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12877-019-1119-x
DO - 10.1186/s12877-019-1119-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 30991943
AN - SCOPUS:85064398976
SN - 1471-2318
VL - 19
JO - BMC Geriatrics
JF - BMC Geriatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 109
ER -