Looking for frailty in elderly using the Gerontopole Frailty Screening Tool: an observational cross-sectional study

Background. Frailty in elderly people is frequent and places a person at increased risk of adverse outcomes, but it is potentially reversible. Easy and quick to complete, the Gerontopole Frailty Screening Tool (GFST) has been designed for early diagnosis of frail elderly. The answer comes from the GP's impression in front of the patient, guided by six frailty characteristic parameters. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of frail patients among the 75-and-older population, using the GFST. Methods. Quantitative cross-sectional observational study. A Chi(2) square test and a multivariate analysis have been performed. Results. Twenty-six GPs have taken part in this study, enabling the collection of 191 tests: 42% [95% CI, 0,35-0.49] of surveyed patients are considered frail. Frailty is significantly associated with each of the GFST parameters, except "living alone". After adjusting on age, gender and other parameters, the factors most strongly associated with frailty are: difficulty with walking, memory complaint (P<0.001) and age (P<0.05). Conclusion. The prevalence observed is consistent with the literature data. Our results confirm the relationship between frailty and physical domain, and reaffirm the close interaction between frailty and cognitive domain.