Loss of Independence - a Rapid Alternative to Frailty Screening in a Swedish ED Setting

This prospective observational study will investigate the correlation of a surrogate marker of frailty in relation to serious outcomes. Serious outcomes are defined as: mortality within 30 days, admission to hospital, length of stay in the Emergency Department (ED), in-hospital Length of Stay and revisits to the ED. The exposure, frailty, will be assessed according to Loss of Independence (LOI) a possible low-cost quick tool to identify frailty in patients. The study population will be ED patients, \>65 years of age in a Swedish regional health care system (Region Östergötland, Sweden), comprising three EDs in Linköping, Norrköping and Motala. The outcomes will be compared according to the degree of frailty and censored over 7, 30 and 90 days.