Citation

Cardoso AF, Bobrowicz-Campos E, Teixeira-Santos L, Cardoso D, Couto F, Apóstolo J. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021; 18(4): e1394.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph18041394

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Early detection of frailty may prevent or delay adverse health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. In Portugal, there are currently no valid multidimensional frailty screening tools. SUNFRAIL is a user-friendly multidimensional tool for frailty screening that can be used in primary care. AIMS: (i) to determine the validity and reliability of the European Portuguese version of the SUNFRAIL tool for use in community-dwelling older adults; (ii) to assess the screening capacity of this version of SUNFRAIL using Fried's phenotypic model criteria for frailty as a reference test.

METHODS: Cross-sectional pilot study in a convenience sample of 128 community-dwelling older adults.

OBJECTIVE and subjective data were collected. Internal consistency, concurrent validity, sensitivity, and specificity (ROC curve analysis) were examined.

RESULTS: Internal consistency was low. Significant moderate to strong correlations were found between different domains and the total score. The differences between robust, pre-frail, and frail older adults were significant. SUNFRAIL was also correlated with multimorbidity. Sensitivity and specificity were satisfactory.

CONCLUSIONS: The European Portuguese version of the SUNFRAIL tool is a promising frailty screening tool for community-dwelling older adults to be routinely used in clinical practice. However, more consistent results on its validity and reliability are needed to be used nationwide.

Language: en

Keywords

older adults; frailty; psychometric properties; screening tool; SUNFRAIL