TY - JOUR
T1 - Can proxy assessments serve as a first screener for identifying people at risk for multidimensional frailty?
AU - van der Vorst, Anne
AU - Zijlstra, G. A. Rixt
AU - De Witte, Nico
AU - De Lepeleire, Jan
AU - Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M.
AU - Schols, Jos M. G. A.
AU - D-SCOPE Consortium
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Timely detection of multidimensional frailty is important to prevent further negative outcomes. Perspectives of general practitioners (GPs) or informal caregivers might serve as a first, global screener to identify older people in need of a more extended assessment. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether proxy assessments are associated with older people's self-reported environmental, physical, psychological, social and overall frailty. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 78 community-dwelling people aged 60 years and over, their GPs (n = 57) and informal caregivers (n = 50). Self-reported frailty was assessed with the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument. GPs and informal caregivers rated each frailty domain and overall frailty on a scale of 0 (not frail at all) to 10 (severely frail). Associations between proxy scores and self-reported frailty were examined by correlation analyses. Significant low to moderate associations were found between (1) self-reported physical frailty and physical frailty scores given by the GPs (r = 0.366, p 0.01) and informal caregivers (r = 0.305, p 0.05), and (2) self-reported psychological frailty and psychological frailty scores given by the GPs (r = 0.230, p 0.05) and informal caregivers (r = 0.254, p 0.05). No significant associations were found between proxy scores and self-reported environmental, social and overall frailty. Global proxy scores as short, subjective screeners for detecting frailty cannot completely replace self-reported frailty. Nonetheless, low to moderate correlations were found for physical and psychological frailty ratings, suggesting that proxy scores might be of value as a first sign of something being wrong for these domains.
AB - Timely detection of multidimensional frailty is important to prevent further negative outcomes. Perspectives of general practitioners (GPs) or informal caregivers might serve as a first, global screener to identify older people in need of a more extended assessment. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether proxy assessments are associated with older people's self-reported environmental, physical, psychological, social and overall frailty. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 78 community-dwelling people aged 60 years and over, their GPs (n = 57) and informal caregivers (n = 50). Self-reported frailty was assessed with the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument. GPs and informal caregivers rated each frailty domain and overall frailty on a scale of 0 (not frail at all) to 10 (severely frail). Associations between proxy scores and self-reported frailty were examined by correlation analyses. Significant low to moderate associations were found between (1) self-reported physical frailty and physical frailty scores given by the GPs (r = 0.366, p 0.01) and informal caregivers (r = 0.305, p 0.05), and (2) self-reported psychological frailty and psychological frailty scores given by the GPs (r = 0.230, p 0.05) and informal caregivers (r = 0.254, p 0.05). No significant associations were found between proxy scores and self-reported environmental, social and overall frailty. Global proxy scores as short, subjective screeners for detecting frailty cannot completely replace self-reported frailty. Nonetheless, low to moderate correlations were found for physical and psychological frailty ratings, suggesting that proxy scores might be of value as a first sign of something being wrong for these domains.
KW - Cross-sectional studies
KW - Informal caregivers
KW - General practitioners
KW - Independent living
KW - Outcome assessment
KW - QUALITY-OF-LIFE
KW - MONTREAL COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT
KW - OLDER-ADULTS
KW - CARE
KW - IMPAIRMENT
KW - PERSPECTIVES
KW - INSTRUMENTS
KW - PHYSICIANS
KW - AGREEMENT
KW - VALIDITY
U2 - 10.1007/s41999-018-0067-x
DO - 10.1007/s41999-018-0067-x
M3 - Article
SN - 1878-7649
VL - 9
SP - 501
EP - 507
JO - European Geriatric Medicine
JF - European Geriatric Medicine
IS - 4
ER -