Validation of the French version of the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13)

Abstract

Background: Identifying and assessing degree and type of frailty among older persons is a major challenge when targeting high risk populations to identify preventive interventions. The Vulnerable Elders Survey-(VES-13) is a simple instrument to identify frailty defined as risk for death, functional decline or institutionalization. Objective: Translate VES-13 into French and validate it. Methods: The French version of VES-13 was developed by forward-backward translation of the VES-13 survey instrument. The authors assessed its feasibility, construct validity, and ability to predict the combined outcomes of admission to institution or death at 18 months, in 135 persons over 70 years of age living in the community. Subjects were recruited from three settings: Group 1a health prevention center (n = 45); Group 2an ambulatory care geriatric clinic (n = 40); and Group 3an intermediate care hospital unit (n = 50). The combined outcomes data were recorded by telephone interview with participants or a proxy. Results: Feasibility of the French version, named Echelle de Vulnérabilité des Ainés-13 or EVA-13, was excellent. The scale classified 5 (11%) persons as vulnerable (score of 3 or more) in Group 1, 23 (58%) in Group 2 and 45 (90%) in Group 3 (p < 0.001) with scores of 0.91 +/− 1.16, 4.27 +/− 3.17 and 6.90 +/− 3.17, respectively (p < 0.001). At follow-up, among the 60 non-vulnerable subjects, 58 (96%) were alive and living at home, whereas 46 (65%) of the 70 vulnerable subjects were alive and living at home (p < 0.001). Conclusions: EVA-13 was determined to be valid and reliable.

Screening for and Managing the Person with Frailty in Primary Care: ICFSR Consensus Guidelines

“…The Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) consists of questions to recognize older persons with frailty ( 37 , 38 ). The VES-13 questionnaire consists of items measuring activities of daily living, physical function, self-rated health, and one question on age.…”

“…The VES-13 ( 37 , 38 ) and Kihon checklist ( 41 , 42 ) include items assessing basic and instrumental activities of daily living among their scoring items. As with the Clinical Frailty Scale, clinicians using these instruments may have difficulties at distinguishing frailty from disability.…”

Assessment of Frailty by the French Version of the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 on Digital Tablet: Validation Study

“…The VES-13 can be completed without the need to involve health care staff, and for example, a trained secretary can interview the respondent or supervise the completion of the self-administrated questionnaire. Recently, the original English-language VES-13 has been validated in French, named Echelle de vulnérabilité des aînés-13 (EVA-13), and can now be used to assess frailty in France [ 19 ].…”

Nonlinear Neural Network Based Forecasting Model for Predicting COVID-19 Cases

“…Multivariate evidence revealed that the epidemics condition with COVID-19 has an optimistic and important impact on online shopping [ 42 ]. Burstyn et al [ 43 ] have analysed clinical time series data besides SARS-CoV-2 epidemiologic illness to identify the common cause for COVID-19. The authors of [ 44 – 46 ] have identified the clinical diagnosis factors for epidemic using the Bayesian approach.…”

“…This model is used to monitor the COVID-19 affected people with many details like geographical location, health condition, travel history and segment information to expect the seriousness of the case and the conceivable result, recuperation or passing. The traditional forecasting models, such as ARIMA [ 7 , 9 ], regression models [ 10 , 11 ] and Bayesian approaches [ 43 ] are often not very helpful in decision making activities for the epidemics as these are failed to support long term prediction. In addition, sometimes, these models misinterpret information due to underfitting and overfitting problems.…”