Aims Measure the prevalence of frailty in a general medicine population and determine the association between Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and length of stay (LOS) in older and younger adult inpatients.
Methods Retrospective descriptive study of 1238 patients aged 16 years and over admitted to an acute medical unit at a tertiary hospital over a three-month period. Medical records were manually reviewed to determine CFS on admission and at baseline, with statistical analysis determining the prevalence of frailty and association between CFS and LOS in the under 65 years and 65 years and over age groups.
Results Of the total study population, 31.7% were aged under 65 years, and 68.3% were aged 65 years and over. In patients aged 65 years and over, 15.6% were vulnerable (CFS 4) and 67.1% were frail (CFS 5-8) at the time of admission. In patients aged under 65 years, 24.2% were vulnerable and 37.8% were frail at the time of admission. Both older and younger patients who had CFS in the frail category at admission had a significantly longer LOS (p-value 0.006 in age<65, p-value 0.008 in age 65+). Frail patients who had an admission CFS that was higher than their baseline CFS had a LOS significantly greater than the expected LOS (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.71-2.85, p-value <0.001).
Conclusions Frailty is prevalent in general medicine patients of all ages. Frailty screening with CFS at the time of medical admission should be considered as a standard practice to allow early recognition of frailty.