Frailty Tools Using Health Care Databases

Challenges in the clinical assessment of frailty have prompted the development of frailty measures based on routinely collected health data, such as administrative claims and electronic health records. This chapter provides an overview of the approaches used to develop data-based frailty measures and methodological considerations in their development which can affect their validity, performance, interpretation, and utility. Database-derived frailty measures can be useful in large database research to adjust for confounders and evaluate treatment effect heterogeneity by frailty, providing additional insight into the care of frail older adults. They also hold the potential to be used in clinical settings as a screening tool to identify individuals and specific population segments requiring additional and targeted care. Further research is needed to enhance the accuracy of data-based frailty measures and facilitate clinical translation.