Towards a more effective strategy to detect community-dwelling frail older adults: validation of risk factors
International Journal of Health Governance
ISSN: 2059-4631
Article publication date: 5 May 2021
Issue publication date: 12 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of early detection of frail older people, prior research found several risk factors of multidimensional frailty. The current study aims to validate these risk factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Two data sets, Belgian Ageing Studies and Detection, Support and Care for older people: Prevention and Empowerment (BAS and D-SCOPE), in three Belgian municipalities (Ghent, Knokke-Heist and Thienen) were used and compared. The BAS data set (N = 1496) is a representative sample of community-dwelling older adults (60+), while the recruitment of the D-SCOPE sample (validation sample, N = 869) is based on risk factors (e.g. age, marital status, moved in the past 10 years). Frailty was measured with the comprehensive frailty assessment instrument (CFAI). The validity was examined by means of prevalence rates, distribution and the odds rates within both data sets.
Findings
The validation sample had an increase in the percentage of elderly who were mildly and highly frail for physical frailty (men: +17.0 percent point, women: +20.7 percent point), for psychological frailty (men: +13.4 percent point, women: +13.7 percent point), for social frailty (men: +24.8 percent point, women: +4.8 percent point) and environmental frailty (men: +24.2 percent point, women: +6.8 percent point). The present results indicate that the risk of being mildly or highly frail was higher in the validation sample in comparison with the BAS data.
Originality/value
The present study proved the validity of aforementioned risk factors. Selecting older people based on these risk factors proved to be an effective strategy for detecting frail older people.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research of the D-SCOPE consortium, commissioned by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, is embedded in the Strategic Basic Research (IWT-140027-SBO). The authors especially thank the older volunteers for their commitment and enthusiasm. We acknowledge the local governments for their support and cooperation throughout the research.
Funding: This work was supported by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology Flanders [grant number IWT-140027-SBO].
Disclosure statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. All authors are part of the D-SCOPE consortium and declare to have contributed in a substantial manner.
Disclosure statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. All authors are part of the D-SCOPE consortium and declare to have contributed in a substantial manner.
Ethical committee: The ethical committee of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel approved the study protocol (B.U.N. 143201111521). A detailed description of the BAS and the interview-design can be found in the methodological paper
Citation
Van der Elst, M., Schoenmakers, B., Dierckx, E., De Roeck, E., van der Vorst, A., Lambotte, D., De Lepeleire, J. and De Donder, L. (2021), "Towards a more effective strategy to detect community-dwelling frail older adults: validation of risk factors", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 237-249. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-11-2020-0131
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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