Association between the frailty index and readmission risk in hospitalised elderly Chinese patients: a retrospective cohort study

Objectives Frailty is a common and important concern of the ageing population. This study examined the association between the frailty index and negative outcomes of hospitalised elderly Chinese patients. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Geriatrics Department of Peking University First Hospital. Participants 470 hospitalised elderly patients. Main outcomes and measures Frailty was measured using a 30-item deficit-accumulation frailty index. The outcomes were the hospitalisation duration and readmission. Results The frailty index was available for 470 patients: 72 (15.32%) were categorised as robust, 272 (57.87%) as prefrail and 126 (26.81%) as frail. The frail group had a longer hospital stay than the robust and prefrail groups. After adjustment for age, sex and cause of hospitalisation at baseline, frailty remained a strong independent risk factor for all-cause readmission and cardiocerebrovascular disease readmission (HR 2.41, 95% CI 1.49 to 3.91, p<0.001; HR 4.92, 95% CI 1.47 to 6.31, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions The frailty index predicted a longer length of stay and higher all-cause and cardiocerebrovascular disease readmission risk in hospitalised elderly patients.