Turkish translation, cross-cultural adaptation and reliability of the Groningen Frailty Indicator

Abstract

Abstract Background Frailty is an important geriatric syndrome that can be seen as a way of recognizing and distinguishing the complex health conditions of older people. Due to the time limitation, short and simple instruments are most feasible in clinical practice, and several quick screening tools have been developed and validated, Groningen frailty indicator (GFI) is one of these scales. We aimed to validate and evaluate the reliability of the GFI in outpatient older adults in the Turkish population. Methods A total of 101 older patients were enrolled to the study. GFI was scored by a geriatrician for every patient at first admission to the geriatric outpatient clinic. Fried Physical Frailty Phenotype (FPFP) was performed as a reference test. Results The median age (IQR) was 72.0 (10.0) and 62.4% of the study population (n = 63) was female. Based on the GFI, 34 patients (33.7%) were defined as robust, and 67 patients (66.3%) were defined as living with frailty. There was a statistically significant concordance between GFI and FPFP (Cohen’s kappa: 0.415 p < 0.001). GFI had excellent consistency in inter-rater reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.99, 95% CI 0.97-1.00) and in intra-rater reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.99, 95% CI 0.96-1.0). Conclusion Our study showed that GFI is a valid and reliable scale in the Turkish older population.