Prognostic indices of mortality in the elderly population may be useful to the clinician: they provide a mortality objective estimation that complements clinical judgment when giving information to patients; they can help select populations at high risk of poor outcomes related to adjustments in therapeutic interventions and, finally, they may also be useful for comparing outcomes among units, hospitals and care systems [1]. In addition, as regards clinical decision-making for older adults, prognostic indices offer clinical information beyond arbitrary cut-off points based on age as well as contribute to reduce potential ageism.
