Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2019

Publication Title

International Journal of Organizational Innovation

Volume

12

Issue Number

2

First Page

170

Last Page

178

Keywords

Clinical Frailty Scale, Frailty, Length Of Stay, Otolaryngology Unit

Disciplines

Investigative Techniques | Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases

Abstract

Frailty was a common syndrome in geriatric clinic and general internal medical wards. Some authors had identified the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) as a predictor of length of stay in the acute medicine unit. However, the role of the Clinical Frailty Scale in the length of stay in otolaryngology unit had not been well studied. The objective of this study was to find out the correlation of the CFS in elderly patients admitted to otolaryngology unit and their length of stay. A retrospective medical chart review of 203 elderly patients admitted to the otolaryngology ward from January, 2014 to December, 2018 was performed. These patients were hospitalized for treating otorhinolaryngological (ENT) disease or for otorhinolaryngological surgery except for those of ENT related malignancies at Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital (KMUH). Patients' demographics, CFS scores, Charlson comorbidities Index (CCI), and length of stay (LOS) were recorded. All the participants were divided into three groups: non-frail (CFS 1- 4), mildtomoderately frail (CFS 5- 6), and severely frail (CFS7- 8). Severely frail group had longer lengths of stay (mean= 8.76±0.97 days), comparing to mild to moderate frail group (mean=6.25±0.72 days), and non-frail group (mean= 3.93±0.38 days, p=0.000). For the length of stay stratified by each individual CFS score, it was significant that patients with higher CFS scores had longer lengths of stay (p=.000). The group with higher CFS scores had higher CCI when compared with non-frail group (6.76±1.35 for severely frail, vs. 5.41±1.10 for mild to moderately frail vs. 3.02±0.95 for non-frail, p=0. 000). The use of the CFS for assessment of the elderly patients could help the otolaryngologist to predict the length of stay in otolaryngology unit in Taiwan.

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