Howlett et al measured frailty based on laboratory tests and blood pressure measurements, termed the FI-LAB. The authors are from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and the University of Manchester.
Patient selection: >= 65 years of age
Parameters: 23 measures as shown in table
Parameter
Low Cut-Off (LLN)
High Cut-Off (ULN)
albumin in g/L
32
45
AST in IU/L
8
33
supine systolic BP
90
140
supine diastolic BP
60
90
calcium in mmol/L
2.3
2.7
creatinine in µmol/L
53
106
folate in nmol/L
11
57
RBC folate in nmol/L
376
1450
fasting glucose in mmol/L
3.9
6.1
hemoglobin in g/L
125
180
MCV in fL
80
96
alkaline phosphatase in IU/L
20
130
inorganic phosphorus in mmol/L
0.74
1.52
potassium in mmol/L
3.8
5
total protein in g/L
60
78
sodium in mmol/L
136
142
TSH in µIU/L
0.5
5
T4 in nmol/L
71
161
free T4 in pmol/L
12
30
urea in mmol/L
2.9
8.2
vitamin B12 in pg/L
118
701
WBC count in 10^9/L
1.8
7.8
VDRL
where:
• The use of 2 measures for folate and thyroxine seems odd.
• Including the VDRL seems odd, especially considering false positives.
• The upper cut-off for WBC count seems low.
Parameter
Points
less than LLN
1
LLN to ULN
0
greater than ULN
1
score =
= SUM(points for all of the parameters available) / (number of parameters available)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 1
• The score was calculated if more than 70% of parameters are available.
• The mean FI-LAB at baseline was 0.27.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve is 0.72.
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