Frailty Trends in an Older Veteran Subpopulation 1 Year Prior and Into the COVID-19 Pandemic Using CAN Scores.

Background: We studied the effects of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic on frailty trends in a subset of older veterans at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Methods: We identified 3538 and 6103 veterans aged 70 to 75 years as of February 8, 2019, with a calculated Care Assessment Need (CAN) score of ≥ 75 for 1-year mortality and hospitalization, respectively. After excluding veterans with insufficient 2020 and 2021 data, we compared the difference in 1-year mortality and hospitalization CAN scores from 2019 to 2020 with 2020 to 2021 using a paired test.

Low TSH Is Associated With Frailty in an Older Veteran Population Independent of Other Thyroid Function Tests.

Low TSH is associated with frailty in the older adult. We studied whether low TSH is an independent marker of frailty or is an indicator of subclinical hyperthyroidism, which in turn predicts frailty. Of outpatient veterans seen between January 2005 and December 2016, we identified 100 patients aged ≥60 years with two low TSH (<0.