Appraising clinical applicability of studies: mapping and synthesis of current frameworks, and proposal of the FrACAS framework and VICORT checklist.

Background: Not all research findings are translated to clinical practice. Reasons for lack of applicability are varied, and multiple frameworks and criteria exist to appraise the general applicability of epidemiological and clinical research. In this two-part study, we identify, map, and synthesize frameworks and criteria; we develop a framework to assist clinicians to appraise applicability specifically from a clinical perspective.

The state of frailty in research: A mapping review of its clinical applicability to practice.

Research on frailty has expanded in the last decade, but direct evidence supporting its implementation in clinical practice may be limited. This mapping review synthesizes the contexts-of-use and overall clinical applicability of recent pre-COVID frailty research. We sampled 476 articles from articles published on frailty in PubMed and EMBASE in 2017-2018, of which 150 articles were fully appraised for the contexts-of-use, definitions, and interventions.

Clinical Correlates and Implications of the Reliability of the Frailty Index in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Background: Deficit accumulation frailty indices (FIs) are widely used to characterize frailty. FIs vary in number and composition of items; the impact of this variation on reliability and clinical applicability is unknown.

Method: We simulated 12 000 studies using a set of 70 candidate deficits in 12 080 community-dwelling participants 65 years and older.

Health Heterogeneity in Older Adults: Exploration in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Background: A widely held dictum in aging research is that heterogeneity in health increases with age, but the basis for this claim has not been fully investigated. We examined heterogeneity at different ages across health characteristics to describe variation and trends; we investigated the comparative importance of between-age versus within-age heterogeneity.

Design: This was a cohort study.