Evaluation of the Clinical Functioning Information Tool (ClinFIT) in Colorectal Surgical Prehabilitation: A Prospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the construct validity and clinical associations of the Clinical Functioning Information Tool (ClinFIT) with routinely collected preoperative risk and functional capacity measures in a colorectal cancer prehabilitation cohort.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study of routinely collected prehabilitation clinic data.

METHODS

Adults with colorectal cancer at a tertiary cancer centre were assessed in the prehabilitation clinic using validated tools and anaesthetic and surgical risk indices, including ClinFIT, Community Integration Questionnaire-Revised (CIQ-R), prehabilitation multidisciplinary risk ratings, functional capacity and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)-derived risk category, nutrition screening and socioeconomic indices. Associations were examined using Spearman's rank correlations.

RESULTS

Participants (n = 64, mean age: 60.8±13.5 years, 54.7% male) had a median acute length of stay (LoS) of 15 days (IQR: 10-20.5). Higher ClinFIT scores moderately correlated with higher American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (p <0.001), CPET physiological vulnerability/risk (p =0.013), and prehabilitation multidisciplinary risk ratings (p <0.001). ClinFIT showed strong inverse correlations with self-reported functional capacity on the Duke Activity Status Index (p <0.001) and participation (CIQ-R total score) (p <0.001). ClinFIT did not correlate significantly with LoS, procedure-focused surgical risk indices, nutrition screening, or socioeconomic disadvantage.

CONCLUSION

ClinFIT showed strong associations with participation, functional capacity, and selected preoperative vulnerability measures in this colorectal cancer prehabilitation cohort. These findings support its potential role as a multidimensional screening and assessment tool from a rehabilitation perspective. Further work should examine whether ClinFIT provides clinically useful information beyond existing preoperative measures and supports its practical use in preoperative oncology care.