EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) as a Predicting Tool for Frailty in Older Korean Adults: The Korean Frailty an Aging Cohort Study (KFACS)

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the cutoff value and efficacy of the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) for predicting frailty. DESIGN: The EQ-VAS medians (Interquartile Range) were compared and analyzed against the FFI. PARTICIPANTS: The subjects were 1471 older adults aged 70 to 84 years who had completed both EQ-VAS and Fried Frailty index (FFI) in the first baseline year (2016) of the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. RESULTS: Of the 1471 subjects,600 were classified as robust, 716 as pre-frail, and 155 as frail. The median EQ-VAS scores were 80.00 (20.00) for robust, 75.00 (25.00) for pre-frail, and 60.00 (25.00) for frail subjects.The medians of all five components of the FFI, weight loss (70.00 vs. 80.00), grip strength (70.00 vs. 80.00), exhaustion (70.00 vs. 80.00), walking velocity (70.00 vs. 80.00), and physical activity (70.00 vs. 80.00), were lower in the abnormal groups. We tested the efficacy of EQ-VAS as a diagnostic tool to predict frailty, and the area under the curve of EQ-VAS was 0.71 withthe optimal cut-off value of 72. CONCLUSION: EQ-VAS presented negative correlation with FFI, and the optimal cut off value for frailty was 72. These results suggest that EQ-VAS is a valuable tool for assessing frailty andmay be a good predictor of frailty in Korean elderly population.