Determination of frailty in elderly using multi-criteria decision making techniques

Objective: The purpose of this study is, to propose a technique that will enable a comprehensive assessment of elderly individuals in "frail" or "pre-frail" stage by taking advantage of multi-criteria decision making techniques which could be used gradually by family physicians. Method: The criteria included in the G8 survey were weighted by consulting experts with the AHP technique. Using the obtained weights, 100 pieces of data were ranked according to the degree of indulgence with TOPSIS technique. The generated ranking is compared with the results of the existing Fried Scale for the given data. To support and test the developed technique with clinical observations, a new test data set was created; separate from the data set used during the development phase. In order to form the test data set, 30 randomly selected patients from Antalya Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Physical Therapy Polyclinic were applied the Fried Scale, G8 scale and after that were consulted by physicians. Obtained data were ranked with AHP-TOPSIS and compared to ranking obtaned by physicians. Results: The result of the weighting study of the criteria the importance rate for Appetite 10.4%, for Weight Loss 13%, for Mobility 22.7%, for Neuropsychological Problems 16.3%, for Body Mass Index 7.5%, for Number of Prescription Drugs 6.1%, for Self Evaluation 8.6% and for Age 15 4% were found. The performance measures of the G8 scale for Accuracy was 75%, for specifity 89%, for precision was 62%, for sensitivity was 87% and for F-criterion was 72% . The performance measures of the AHP-TOPSIS technique for accuracy was 78%, for specifity was 90%, for precision was 66%, for sensitivity was 87%, for F-measure was 75%. Conclusion: The G8 scale was found to be a valid scale for Turkish society. The AHP-TOPSIS performance measures were observed to be higher than the performance measures of the G8 scale. The ranking obtained in the test data set and the ranking obtained with the expert opinions were found to be consistent. Key words: G8, AHP, TOPSIS, Frailty, Geriatrics