Assessing Frailty in the General Medical Clinic of a Tertiary Hospital in Northern Malaysia: The FRAIL Scale or the Clinical Frailty Scale

Table 1

Characteristics of community-dwelling older adults who attended general medical clinic.

	FRAIL scale			Clinical frailty scale
	All, N = 95	Frail, N = 17	Not frail, N = 78		Frail, N = 21	Not frail, N = 74
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)		n (%)	n (%)
Age (year)^a	71.0 (67.0–75.0)	77 (68.5–84.0)	69.5 (67.0–73.0)	0.010	79.0 (72.5–84.0)	69.0 (67.0–72.0)	<0.001
Gender (female)	45 (47.4%)	8 (47.1%)	37 (47.4%)	0.977	10 (47.6%)	35 (47.3%)	0.979
Ethnicity
Malay	34 (35.8%)	1 (5.9%)	33 (42.3%)	0.006	5 (23.8%)	29 (39.2%)	0.348
Chinese	42 (44.2%)	9 (52.9%)	33 (42.3%)		12 (57.1%)	30 (40.5%)
Indian	19 (20.0%)	7 (41.1%)	12 (15.4%)		4 (19.0%)	15 (20.3%)
Educational level
Never attended school/primary school	52 (54.7%)	12 (70.6%)	30 (38.5%)	0.147	14(66.7%)	38 (51.4%)	0.213
Secondary school/tertiary education	43 (45.3%)	5 (29.4%)	38 (48.7%)		7(33.3%)	36 (48.6%)
Comorbidities
Hypertension	80 (84.2%)	17 (100%)	63 (80.8%)	0.065	19 (90.5%)	61 (82.4%)	0.509
Diabetes mellitus	53 (55.8%)	15 (88.2%)	38 (48.7%)	0.003	16 (76.2%)	37 (50.0%)	0.033
Ischaemic heart disease	48 (50.5%)	15 (88.2%)	33 (42.3%)	0.001	8 (38.1%)	40 (54.1%)	0.197
Chronic kidney disease	33 (34.7%)	10 (58.8%)	23 (29.5%)	0.021	10 (47.6%)	23 (31.1%)	0.160
Arthritis	30 (31.6%)	7 (41.2%)	23 (29.5%)	0.347	8 (38.1%)	22 (29.7%)	0.467
Congestive cardiac failure	23 (24.2%)	10 (58.8%)	13 (16.7%)	0.001	8 (38.1%)	15 (20.3%)	0.092
Stroke	19 (20.0%)	5 (29.4%)	14 (17.9%)	0.284	9 (42.9%)	10 (13.5%)	0.003
Charlson Comorbidity Index^b	5.0 (2.0)	7.2 (2.1)	4.8 (1.6)	<0.001	6.8 (2.2)	4.8 (1.6)	<0.001
IADL^c
Lawton IADL Scale^a	7.0 (5.0–8.0)	4.0 (2.0–7.0)	7.0 (6.0–8.0)	0.001	4.0 (1.0–4.0)	8 (6.8–8.0)	<0.001
Other geriatric syndromes and psychosocial issues
Visual impairment	32 (33.7%)	8 (47.1%)	24 (30.8%)	0.198	12 (57.1%)	20 (27.0%)	0.010
Hearing impairment	21 (22.1%)	4 (23.5%)	17 (21.8%)	1.000	9 (42.9%)	12 (16.2%)	0.016
Polypharmacy	77 (81.1%)	17 (100.0%)	60 (76.9%)	0.036	19 (90.5%)	58 (78.4%)	0.344
Urinary incontinence	13 (13.7%)	4 (23.5%)	9 (11.5%)	0.24	7 (33.3%)	6 (8.1%)	0.007
Fall ≥1 for the previous year	19 (20.0%)	4 (23.5%)	15 (19.2%)	0.74	7 (33.3%)	12 (16.2%)	0.120
Admission ≥1 for the previous year	21 (22.1%)	8 (47.1%)	13 (16.7%)	0.011	7 (33.3%)	14 (18.9%)	0.231
Low mood	29 (30.5%)	7 (41.2%)	22 (28.2%)	0.293	11 (52.4%)	18 (24.3%)	0.014
Poor social support	5(5.3%)	2 (11.8%)	3 (3.8%)	0.217	1 (4.8%)	4 (5.4%)	1.000
Blood parameters
Haemoglobin (g/dl)^b	12.7 (1.8)	11.8 (2.0)	12.9 (1.7)	0.033	11.9 (2.0)	12.9 (1.7)	0.017
Urea (mmol/L)^a	5.5 (4.3–7.3)	8.0 (5.9–10.3)	5.5 (4.1–6.7)	<0.001	7.2 (4.9–9.4)	5.6 (4.3–6.8)	0.032
Albumin (g/L)^b	36.1 (4.2)	32.9 (5.3)	37.3 (3.5)	0.005	32.5 (4.7)	37.8 (3.3)	<0.001

^aMedian (IQR), ^bmean (SD), ^cinstrumental activities of daily living.