Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28866737›Full record

ArticleGeroScience2017

A frailty index from common clinical and laboratory tests predicts increased risk of death across the life course.

Joanna M Blodgett, Olga Theou, Susan E Howlett, Kenneth Rockwood

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GeroScience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
106citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

106 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. How human and animal frailty index studies can inform each other: a brief narrative review.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
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  14. Heart Stress, Frailty and Mortality Risk in two prospective cohorts.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
    Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Joanna M BlodgettDepartment of Medicine, Dalhousie University, 5955 Veterans' Memorial Lane, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Olga TheouDepartment of Medicine, Dalhousie University, 5955 Veterans' Memorial Lane, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Susan E HowlettDepartments of Pharmacology and Medicine (Division of Geriatric Medicine), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Kenneth RockwoodDepartment of Medicine, Dalhousie University, 5955 Veterans' Memorial Lane, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Kenneth.Rockwood@dal.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A frailty index (FI) based entirely on common clinical and laboratory tests might offer scientific advantages in understanding ageing and pragmatic advantages in screening. Our main objective was to compare an FI based on common laboratory tests with an FI based on self-reported data; we additionally investigated if the combination of subclinical deficits with clinical ones increased the ability of the FI to predict mortality. In this secondary analysis of the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 8888 individuals aged 20+ were evaluated. Three FIs were constructed: a 36-item FI using self-reported questionnaire data (FI-Self-report); a 32-item FI using data from laboratory test values plus pulse and blood pressure measures (FI-Lab); and a 68-item FI that combined all items from each index (FI-Combined). The mean FI-Lab score was 0.15 ± 0.09, the FI-Self-report was 0.11 ± 0.11 and FI-Combined was 0.13 ± 0.08. Each index showed some typical FI characteristics (skewed distribution with long right tail, non-linear increase with age). Even so, there were fewer people with low frailty levels and a slower increase with age for the FI-Lab compared to the FI-Self-report. Higher frailty level was associated with higher risk of death, although it was strongest at older ages. Both FI-Lab and FI-Self-report remained significant in a combined model predicting death. The FI-Lab was feasible and valid, demonstrating that even subclinical deficit accumulation increased mortality risk. This suggests that deficit accumulation, from the subcellular to the clinically visible is a useful construct that may advance our understanding of the ageing process.

Indexed as

AgeingBiomarkersDeficit accumulationFrail elderlyFrailtyNHANES

Identifiers

PMID28866737
PMCPMC5636769

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.