Effectiveness of the Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old‐Old (QMCOO) to diagnose frailty in community‐dwelling older adults

Abstract

Although frailty could be reversible by early diagnosis and interventions, it lacks definite diagnostic criteria. The Kihon Checklist is a 25-item questionnaire that diagnoses frailty with a cutoff score of 7/8. The Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old-Old (QMCOO) was recently established and used for medical checkups among Japanese older adults, but no method or cutoff score for diagnosing frailty has been established. Thus, we aimed to diagnose frailty using the QMCOO and to determine its cutoff score by comparing it with that of the Kihon Checklist.Methods: We recruited 223 older adults in Yasugi City and Yonago City to answer all the questions in the Kihon Checklist and the QMCOO at the same time. Those scoring ≥8 for the Kihon Checklist (n = 38) were diagnosed as frail. We also determined the cutoff score for frailty for the QMCOO and examined which questionnaire items affected the frailty status. Results:The QMCOO and the Kihon Checklist score showed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.670, P < 0.001). The area under the curve was 0.851. A cutoff score of 3/4 for the QMCOO represented the best results (sensitivity, 76.3%; specificity, 88.1%; and accuracy, 86.1%). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that subjective health status, body weight loss, slowness, and forgetfulness still affected the frailty status.Conclusions: A cutoff score of 3/4 for the QMCOO might be effective in diagnosing frailty.

Validity of the Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old‐Old (QMCOO) in screening for physical frailty in Japanese older outpatients

“…Jiaqi Li, 1,2 Mikako Yasuoka, 1 Kaori Kinoshita, 1 Keisuke Maeda, 3 Marie Takemura, 4 Yasumoto Matsui, 4 Hidenori Arai 5 and Shosuke Satake…”

“…The area under the curve of the QMCOO for estimating frailty based on the Kihon Checklist is 0.851. 3 …”

“…The area under the curve of the QMCOO for estimating frailty based on the Kihon Checklist is 0.851. 3 Limited evidence has been published regarding the validity of the QMCOO in estimating physical frailty based on Fried's phenotype model, which contains actual measurements of physical abilities. In our cross-sectional study, we analyzed 187 disabilityfree outpatients (95 men and 92 women) aged ≥65 years (mean age: 77.3 years; standard deviation: 5.7) enrolled from the frailty clinic to investigate the ability of the QMCOO to identify physical frailty.…”

Social frailty as social aspects of frailty: Research, practical activities, and prospects

“…23 In this project, the Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old-Old (QMCOO) has recently been established and has been used for medical checkups among Japanese older adults aged 75 and over. This 15-item questionnaire, which might be effective in diagnosing frailty, 24 includes elements of "social frailty" such as social support networks. High-risk individuals may need the support of a variety of professionals, including their general practitioners, in realizing a life in line with their unique values and preferences.…”

Comparison of two scoring methods for the Questionnaire for Medical Checkup of Old‐Old to diagnose frailty

“…We set the cutoff score to 3 /4 for both methods. 3,4 We used logistic regression analyses to determine whether the total QMCOO score was associated with frailty. We used non-frail or frail at the baseline as the dependent variable, and the total QMCOO score as the independent variable.…”