The Essential Frailty Toolset (EFT) is a valid measurement of frailty in people with heart valve disease. Validation of the virtual assessment of EFT is needed since pivoting to virtual nursing health consultations during COVID-19.

 A prospective observational cohort study compared the measurement of EFT in person and virtual format. Weighted Kappa tests were used to measure the agreement of EFT scores between assessments; the effect of the sequence of measurement using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistic to test the general association between the timing of measurement and differences of EFT score.

 A sample of 85 patients, with a mean age of 81 ± 6 years, including 51 men (60 %); the primary valvular heart diseases were aortic stenosis (n=72, 84.7%), mitral regurgitation (n=5, 5.9%) and tricuspid regurgitation (n=8, 9.4 %). The virtual measurement of frailty was conducted using a standardised protocol. The virtual connection platforms selected by patients was FaceTime (n=33, 38.8%) and Zoom (n=52, 61.2%); the median (IQR) number of days between the in-person and the virtual assessment was 5 (3,10). The weighted Kappa estimate was 0.63 (95% CI 0.52, 0.75), indicating a strong agreement between the separate scores obtained. The test for the general association was non-significant (p=0.99), indicating a lack of evidence of detecting an association between EFT scores and the chronological order of assessment.

 The EFT can be reliably measured virtually in older patients with valvular heart disease. Research is needed to better understand older patients’ perspectives in the use of virtual health.