Clinical Frailty Scale and Biomarkers for Assessing Frailty in Elder Inpatients in China.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and clinical biomarkers in assessing the frailty in elder inpatients in China. Design: The study was a cross-sectional study. Setting and Participants: The study included 642 elder inpatients (295 females and 347 males) aged ≥65 years, from the Department of Geriatrics of Zhejiang Hospital between January 2018 and December 2019. Measurements: All participants underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment and blood tests. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the association between risk factors and frailty. Results: The average age of the participants was 82.72±8.06 years (range: 65–95 years) and the prevalence of frailty was 39.1% according to the CFS. Frail participants showed significantly lower short physical performance battery (SPPB), basic activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scores (all p<0.001), and lower hemoglobin, total protein and albumin levels (all P<0.05) than nonfrail participants. Frail participants had higher CRP, D-dimer and fibrinogen levels than nonfrail participants (all p<0.05). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between frailty and age, comorbidity, polypharmacy, fall history, SPPB, ADL, and IADL scores, D-dimer, fibrinogen, hemoglobin, total protein and albumin levels (all P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age (odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI)= 1.151(1.042–1.272), P=0.006), SPPB scores (OR, 95% CI=0.901(0.601–1.350), P<0.001), and D-dimer (OR, 95% CI=4.857(2.182–6.983), P<0.001), fibrinogen (OR, 95% CI=2.665(0.977–4.254), P<0.001), hemoglobin (OR, 95% CI=0.837(0.725–0.963), P= 0.044), and albumin (OR, 95% CI=0.860 (0.776–1.188), P<0.001) levels were independently associated with frailty in all participants. Conclusion: Frailty in elder inpatients in China is characterized by older age, a lower SPPB scores, higher D-dimer and fibrinogen levels and lower hemoglobin and albumin levels. Functional decline and malnutrition may be the targets of frailty interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]