Frailty tool crosswalk: comparing scores across different assessment tools
The most widely used and validated frailty tools share the common
feature of quantifying vulnerability to adverse outcomes. These scales also have overlapping
domains in their measurements, such as mobility and balance, strength, endurance, and nutrition.
A crosswalk was created to understand the direct relationship between tools
(Sison et al. Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society 2023)
The figure below illustrates the scores from each tool and their corresponding relationship with
the frailty index scores. This crosswalk is designed to assist in comparing and interpreting
scores across different tools.
- In this figure, each horizontal tick indicates the cutpoint for each frailty tool. For example, a Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF) score of 1 corresponds to a Frailty Index (FI) range of approximately 0.20 to less than 0.37, while a SOF score of 2 aligns with an FI range of about 0.37 to less than 0.64. The transition from blue to red visually denotes the cutpoint in the original tool that defines frailty.
- Caution: The equipercentile linking method used to create this crosswalk assumes that different tools measure a similar construct (vulnerability). Because the equipercentile linking relies on the population distribution of frailty scores, frailty status may be misclassified at the individual patient level. Therefore, the crosswalk should be used as an approximation. It should not replace clinical judgment; it is intended to supplement, not substitute, professional expertise and clinical assessment.