Centre for Policy on Ageing



The Vulnerable Elders Survey — a tool for identifying vulnerable older people in the community
Author(s)	Debra Saliba, Marc Elliott, Laurence Z Rubenstein
Journal title	Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 49, no 12, December 2001
Pages	pp 1691-1699
Keywords	At risk ; Ill health ; Living in the community ; Evaluation ; United States of America.
Annotation	Vulnerable older people are defined here as those age 65+ who are at increased risk of functional decline or death over 2 years, and includes those typically labelled as "frail" or at moderately high risk. This study focused on the 20% to 40% of community-dwelling older people who are most at risk of death or decline in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) or ADLs over 2 years. Based on a literature review, the authors hypothesised that a survey system that relied on baseline function and age could identify those vulnerable older people as effectively as could a system relying on conditions and medical data. The resulting Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13) provides a simple, function-based screen that is clinically relevant and can help organisations, policy makers and researchers to identify those with increased vulnerability. However, its feasibility within, across and between organisations needs to be evaluated. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020206217 A
Classmark	CA3: CH: K4: 4C: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.