Clinical validation of a frailty management mHealth tool in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults: the Geras Fit-Frailty App

1. A guided mobile application can validly and efficiently assess frailty and sarcopenia with results comparable to a comprehensive geriatric assessment.

2. The Fit-Frailty App enables standardized, multidimensional frailty assessment by non-specialists within routine clinical workflows.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Frailty and sarcopenia are prevalent, prognostically important geriatric syndromes, yet systematic assessment is limited by time, training, and access to specialist care. Kennedy and colleagues evaluated the clinical validity, feasibility, and usability of the Geras Fit-Frailty App, a guided mobile health tool designed to provide a multidimensional assessment of frailty and sarcopenia at the point of care. In this cross-sectional validation study, 75 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older attending an outpatient geriatric clinic completed the Fit-Frailty App during routine visits. The app assesses physical performance, cognition, nutrition, daily function, psychosocial factors, and medical history, generating a cumulative deficits frailty index score. Criterion validity was evaluated by comparison with a frailty index derived from comprehensive geriatric assessment, while construct validity was assessed against established measures of cognition, mood, physical frailty, and disability. The mean Fit-Frailty score was 0.33, with 73% of participants classified as frail or severely frail. The app demonstrated moderate to good agreement with the frailty index based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.65) and a strong correlation between measures. Higher app scores aligned with worsening cognition, depression, physical frailty phenotype, and Clinical Frailty Scale levels. The app achieved a 100% completion rate, required 15 minutes or less to administer, and had no safety events. Overall, the Fit-Frailty App is a feasible and valid tool for comprehensive frailty and sarcopenia assessment that can be used by non-geriatric clinicians in clinical and research settings.

Click here to read this study in BMJ Open

Image: PD

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