Reliability of fr-AGILE tool to evaluate multidimensional frailty in hospital settings for older adults with COVID-19

Aging Clin Exp Res. 2022 Apr;34(4):939-944. doi: 10.1007/s40520-022-02101-3. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

Abstract

Aims: The study assesses the reliability of fr-AGILE, a validated rapid tool used for the evaluation of multidimensional frailty in older adults hospitalized with COVID-19.

Methods: Two different staff members independently assessed the presence of frailty in 144 patients aged ≥ 65 years affected by COVID-19 using the fr-AGILE tool. The internal consistency of fr-AGILE was evaluated by examining the item-total correlations and the Kuder-Richardson (KR) formula. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated using linear weighted kappa.

Results: Multidimensional frailty severity increases with age and is associated to higher use of non-invasive ventilation (p = 0.025), total severity score on chest tomography (p = 0.001) and in-hospital mortality (p = 0.032). Fr-AGILE showed good internal consistency (KR-20 = 0.742) and excellent inter-rater reliability (weighted kappa = 0.752 and 0.878 for frailty score and frailty degree, respectively).

Conclusions: fr-AGILE tool can quickly identify and quantify multidimensional frailty in hospital settings for older patient affected by COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Frailty evaluation tool; Multidimensional frailty.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • COVID-19*
  • Frail Elderly
  • Frailty* / diagnosis
  • Geriatric Assessment / methods
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Reproducibility of Results