This repository contains code to calculate the VA Frailty Index based on ICD-9 and/or ICD-10 codes as described in the following paper:
Cheng D, DuMontier C, Yildirim C, Charest B, Hawley C, Zhuo M, Paik J, Yaksic E, Gaziano JM, Do N, Brophy M, Cho K, Kim DH, Driver JA, Fillmore N, Orkaby AR. Updating and Validating the Veterans Affairs Frailty Index: Transitioning from ICD-9 to ICD-10. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2021 Mar 9:glab071. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glab071. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33693638.
Calculating the VA-FI requires the following steps:
- Step 1: Defining an index date and lookback period (typically 3 years) relative to which the VA-FI will be calculated.
- Step 2: Pulling diagnosis and procedure codes needed from the data source (within the VA, this is typically the VA Corporate Data Warehouse and possibly VA's CMS data).
- Step 3: Actually calculating the VA-FI based on the above.
This repo provides code to execute Step 3. Step 1 is inherently project specific and must be done by you. For Step 2, there are two options:
- Step 2, Option 1: You may pull diagnosis and procedure codes in a superset of the lookback period using your favorite method, e.g., writing a query in SQL Server Management Studio and downloading the results to a CSV file. This is the recommended option for non-VA users.
- Step 2, Option 2: For VA employees or WOCs, we have written a very efficient push-button code to do steps 2 and 3 together, which is available within the VA intranet at https://github.ec.va.gov/EPMO/va_frailty_index or https://vhacdwdwhweb100.vha.med.va.gov/phenotype/index.php/Frailty_Index_(GPC). We can also email you this code at your va.gov email address. This is the recommended option for internal VA users.
In addition, if you'd like to reimplement Step 3 yourself for some reason, CSV versions of the code sets are available in icd_code_vafi_mapping.csv and procedure_code_vafi_mapping.csv. Note: Exercise caution if you edit these files in Excel. Opening the file and saving in Excel will likely corrupt ICD codes beginning or ending in 0s (e.g., 035.40 will be incorrectly rewritten as 35.4).
For further information or assistance with this code, please reach out to the authors, which for senior authors Ariela Orkaby and Nathanael Fillmore are both Firstname.Lastname@va.gov.