The electronic frailty index as an indicator of community healthcare service utilisation in the older population

Boyd, Penelope J., Nevard, Matthew, Ford, John A., Khondoker, Mizanur, Cross, Jane L. and Fox, Chris (2019) The electronic frailty index as an indicator of community healthcare service utilisation in the older population. Age and Ageing, 48 (2). 273–277. ISSN 0002-0729

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Abstract

Background: older people with frailty are particularly high users of healthcare services, however a lack of standardised recording of frailty in different healthcare electronic datasets has limited investigations into healthcare service usage and demand of the older frail population. Objectives: to investigate the community service demand of frail patients using the electronic frailty index (eFI) as a measure of frailty. Study design and setting: a retrospective cohort study using anonymised linked healthcare patient data from primary care, community services and acute hospitals in Norfolk. Participants: patients aged 65 and over who had an eFI assessment score established in their primary care electronic patient record in Norwich based General Practices. Results: we include data from 22,859 patients with an eFI score. Frailty severity increased with age and was associated with increased acute hospital admission within a 6-month window. Patients with a frail eFI score were also more likely to have a community service referral within a 6-month window of frailty assessment, with a RR of 1.84 (1.76–1.93) for mild frailty, 1.96 (1.83–2.09) for moderate frailty and 2.95 (2.76–3.14) for severe frailty scores. We also found that frail patients had more community referrals per patient then those classified as fit and required more care plans per community referral. Conclusions: eFI score was an indicator of community service use, with increasing severity of frailty being associated with higher community healthcare requirements. The eFI may help planning of community services for the frail population.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	community care,electronic frailty index,electronic health record,frailty,older people,service use,ageing,geriatrics and gerontology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1300/1302
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Dementia & Complexity in Later Life Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Mental Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Institute for Volunteering Research Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Statistics
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2018 17:30
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 23:53
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/68728
DOI:	10.1093/ageing/afy181

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