Construction and Validation of a Frailty Index for the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Population

Abstract

Frailty can be defined as a state of vulnerability to adverse health events. In this project, a standardized method for constructing a frailty index was followed using data from the SPOR IMAGINE IBD cohort. We constructed an IBD 77 item Frailty Index (FI) using a validated 10 step process using baseline data from 2714 participants. The histogram of FI scores showed a right skew, which is characteristic of an FI. In this distribution the upper limit (99th percentile) of FI score is 0.529 displaying a submaximal limit, characteristic of other valid FIs. The mean FI score was higher in women. The mean age of our cohort was 45.8 years old (SD: 15), and the mean FI score was 0.17 (SD: 0.12), lower than that for other immune mediated diseases, and 30.6% of our sample was categorized as frail (FI score >0.21). FI scores were associated with IBD symptom severity (R=0.767).