Intrinsic capacity assessment using World Health Organization Integrated Care for Older People Step 1, and the association with frailty in community dwelling older adults

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to investigate the association between intrinsic capacity (IC) and frailty in community‐dwelling older adults. Specifically, we examined the utility of the World Health Organization's Integrated Care for Older People Step 1 screen for identifying frail older persons in the community.MethodsThis is a cross‐sectional analysis of a community frailty screening initiative. IC loss was ascertained using the World Health Organization's Integrated Care for Older People Step 1 questions. The Clinical Frailty Scale was used to categorize participants as robust (Clinical Frailty Scale S1‐3) or frail (Clinical Frailty Scale ≥4). Logistic regression was used to analyze the association of individual and cumulative IC losses with frailty, adjusting for confounders. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of using cumulative IC losses to identify frailty was assessed.ResultsThis study included 1164 participants (28.2% frail). Loss in locomotion (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.47, 95% CI 1.07–2.02), vitality (AOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.04–2.39), sensory (AOR 1.99, 95% CI 1.51–2.64) and psychological capacities (AOR 1.92, 95% CI 1.45–2.56) were significantly associated with frailty. Loss in more than three IC domains was associated with frailty. Using loss in at least three ICs identifies frailty, with sensitivity of 38.6%, specificity of 83.5% and positive predictive value of 47.4%. Using loss in at least four ICs improved specificity to 96.9%, and is associated with the highest positive predictive value of 57.6% and highest positive likelihood ratio of 3.55 for frailty among all cut‐off values. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.64 (95% CI 0.61–0.68).ConclusionsIC loss as identified through World Health Organization's Integrated Care for Older People Step 1 is associated with frailty community‐dwelling older adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 457–463.