J Korean Biol Nurs Sci.  2023 Nov;25(4):229-242. 10.7586/jkbns.23.0015.

Frailty assessed by the electronic frailty index and its impact on health outcomes in older adults with chronic diseases: a systematic review

• Shin JW
• Yu MY
• Son YJ

• KMID: 2548382
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7586/jkbns.23.0015

Abstract

Purpose
The electronic frailty index (eFI), which is derived from electronic health records, has been recommended as screening tool for frailty due to its accessibility and ease of use. The objective of this systematic review was to identify the prevalence of frailty assessed by the eFI and its influence on health outcomes in older adults with chronic diseases.
Methods
We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Cochrane, Google search, and nursing journals in Korean from January 2016 to December 2022.
Results
Twelve studies were analyzed. The eFI score, based on routine clinical data, was associated with adverse health outcomes. The most frequent outcome studied was mortality, and the eFI was associated with increased mortality in nine studies. Other outcomes studied included hospitalization, length of stay, readmission, and institutionalization in relation to hospital care usage, and cardiovascular events, stroke, GI bleeding, falls, and instrumental activities of daily life as health conditions.
Conclusion
Early identification of frailty in older adults with chronic diseases can decrease the burden of disease and adverse health outcomes. The eFI has a good discriminative capacity to identify frail older adults with chronic diseases.

Keyword

Chronic disease; Electronic health records; Frailty; Aged; Outcome assessment; 만성질환; 전자허약지수; 허약; 건강결과; 노인