Incorporating Frailty into Clinical Practice and Clinical Research.

Abstract

While frailty is a common syndrome in older persons that isassociated with very significant morbidity and mortality, theoften subtle and varied clinical manifestations have fostereddisagreement regarding its definition, causes, and naturalhistory. Recently consensus has begun to emerge on theacceptance of the following definition for physical frailty “amedical syndrome with multiple causes and contributors that ischaracterized by diminished strength, endurance, and reducedphysiologic function that increases an individual’s vulnerabilityfor developing increased dependency and/or death” (1). Basedon this emerging consensus and the development of severalrapid, validated screening tests, our understanding of theepidemiology of this syndrome is rapidly advancing.