Senior Health Calculator: Online Tool for Providers

For Providers: Online Tool to Calculate Frailty Index (FI)


This online calculator applies the standard deficit-accumulation approach to routinely collected items of a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) to calculate the frailty index (FI). For calculation of FI, medical history and functional status sections must be completed; information on performance tests and nutritional status is not required (the calculator will use all available information).

Interpretation of CGA-FI

The CGA-FI can range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating a greater degree of frailty. The following categories of frailty are used in clinical practice and research: robust (less than 0.15), pre-frailty (0.15 to less than 0.25), mild frailty (0.25 to less than 0.35), moderate frailty (0.35 to less than 0.45), severe frailty (0.45 to less than 0.55), and advanced frailty (0.55 or higher).

Typically, most of the population has a CGA-FI value less than 0.70. People with a higher CGA-FI value are at greater risk for loss of independence, poor recovery after surgery, and disability after medical hospitalization.

CGA-FI

Final Score: 0.00
MM/DD/YYY
* Items marked with a star (*) must be completely assessed.
Name
RESET ALL
Score : 0
Medical History* (21 items)
Reset
Check any items that the patient has in his/her medical history.
Angina
Anxiety disorder
Arthritis
Asthma
Atrial fibrillation/flutter
Cancer within 5 years
Chronic kidney disease (eGFR<60)
COPD
Coronary artery disease
Degenerative spine disease
Dementia
Depression
Diabetes
Fall within the past year
Heart failure
Hypertension
Myocardial infarction
Peripheral vascular disease
Sensory impairment
Stroke/TIA
Use of >= 5 prescription drugs
Functional Status* (22 items)
Reset
Does the patient need help from another person to perform the following activities?
Activities of Daily Living
Feeding
Dressing/undressing
Grooming
Walking (or use of a walker)
Getting in and out of bed
Toileting
Bathing or shower
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
Using telephone
Using transportation
Shopping
Preparing own meals
Housework
Taking own medications
Managing money
Nagi & Rosow-Breslau Activities
Pulling or pushing a large object
Stooping, crouching or kneeling
Lifting or carrying 10 lbs
Reaching arms above shoulder
Writing or handling small objects
Walking up/dn a flight of stairs
Walking half a mile
Heavy work around house
Performance Tests (4 items)
Reset
Mental State Examination
5 Repeated Chair Stands
Gait Speed
Dominant Handgrip Strength
Nutritional Status (3 items)
Reset
Weight loss > 10lbs in past year
Body mass index < 21kg/m²
Serum albumin < 3.5 g/L
Number of positive items: Number of items assessed: CGA-FI (range: 0.0-1.0):
* Items marked with a star (*) must be completely assessed.

YOUR HEALTH DASHBOARD

Health DomainsNormalLow RiskModerate RiskHigh RiskInsufficient Data
1. Medical     
2. Mobility     
3. Muscle Strength     
4. ADL disability     
5. IADL disability     
6. Cognition     
7. Nutrition     
Your Frailty Index :

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Acknowledgment

Our research team is grateful to Mr. Andrew Song who originally designed and created a prototype of this online calculator; Ms. Sunjin Jung who further improved the design and created the assessment report; and to geriatricians in the BIDMC Division of Gerontology and Min Keun Song, MD, MPH, CMD, for their valuable feedback.

If you have any questions and suggestions about this online calculator, please email Dae Kim, MD, MPH, ScD.

Disclaimer

You are free to reproduce and use the CGA-FI and Calculator, without modification, solely for research or clinical practice under a Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivatives license.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Frailty Index Calculation

Searle SD, Mitnitski A, Gahbauer EA, Gill TM, Rockwood K. A standard procedure for creating a frailty index. BMC Geriatr. 2008; 8: 24. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-8-24. PMID: 18826625; PMCID: PMC2573877.

Sison SDM, Shi SM, Kim KM, Steinberg N, Jeong S, McCarthy EP, Kim DH. A crosswalk of commonly used frailty scales. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023 Jun 8. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18453. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37289180.

Frailty Index Implementation in Clinical Practice

Sison SDM, Newmeyer N, Arias KT, Schoenburg R, Fonseca Valencia C, Cheslock M, Raman V, Driver JA, Kim DH. Feasibility of implementing a telephone-based frailty assessment. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022 12; 70(12):3610-3619. PMID: 36169216; PMCID: PMC9772097.

Frailty Index and Prognosis

Shi SM, McCarthy EP, Mitchell SL, Kim DH. Predicting Mortality and Adverse Outcomes: Comparing the Frailty Index to General Prognostic Indices. J Gen Intern Med. 2020; 35: 1516-1522. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-05700-w. PMID: 32072368; PMCID: PMC7210351.

Shi SM, Olivieri-Mui B, McCarthy EP, Kim DH. Changes in a Frailty Index and Association with Mortality. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Apr;69(4):1057-1062. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17002. Epub 2020 Dec 29. PMID: 33377190; PMCID: PMC8071066.

Frailty Index and Recovery after Aortic Valve Surgery

Kim DH, Afilalo J, Shi SM, Popma JJ, Khabbaz KR, Laham RJ, Grodstein F, Guibone K, Lux E, Lipsitz LA. Evaluation of Changes in Functional Status in the Year After Aortic Valve Replacement. JAMA Intern Med. 2019; 179: 383-391. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.6738. PMID: 30715097; PMCID: PMC6439710.

Frailty Index and Hospitalization-Associated Disability

Park CM, Kim W, Lee ES, Rhim HC, Cho KH, Kim JH, Kim DH. Comparison of Frailty Index to Pneumonia Severity Measures in Older Patients With Pneumonia. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022; 23: 165-169. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.08.044. PMID: 34624243.