Background
In aortic valve disease, the relationship between claimsâbased frailty indices (CFIs) and validated measures of frailty constructed from inâperson assessments is unclear but may be relevant for retrospective ascertainment of frailty status when otherwise unmeasured.
Methods and Results
We linked adults aged â„65 years in the US CoreValve Studies (linkage rate, 67%; mean age, 82.7±6.2 years, 43.1% women), to Medicare inpatient claims, 2011 to 2015. The Johns Hopkins CFI, validated on the basis of the Fried index, was generated for each study participant, and the association between CFI tertile and trial outcomes was evaluated as part of the EXTENDâFRAILTY substudy. Among 2357 participants (64.9% frail), higher CFI tertile was associated with greater impairments in nutrition, disability, cognition, and selfârated health. The primary outcome of allâcause mortality at 1 year occurred in 19.3%, 23.1%, and 31.3% of those in tertiles 1 to 3, respectively (tertile 2 versus 1: hazard ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.98â1.51;
P
=0.07; tertile 3 versus 1: hazard ratio, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.41â2.12;
P
<0.001). Secondary outcomes (bleeding, major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and hospitalization) were more frequent with increasing CFI tertile and persisted despite adjustment for age, sex, New York Heart Association class, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk score.
Conclusions
In linked Medicare and CoreValve study data, a CFI based on the Fried index consistently identified individuals with worse impairments in frailty, disability, cognitive dysfunction, and nutrition and a higher risk of death, hospitalization, bleeding, and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, independent of age and risk category. While not a surrogate for validated metrics of frailty using inâperson assessments, use of this CFI to ascertain frailty status among patients with aortic valve disease may be valid and prognostically relevant information when otherwise not measured.