The term ‘frailty’ describes a condition characterised by loss of reserves causing vulnerability to a range of adverse outcomes after relatively minor illnesses.1 It has a reported prevalence of around 8.1% in people aged >50 years, with prevalence increasing to around 50% in people aged >90 years.2
Frailty can be a useful concept in primary care because it identifies older people at risk of a range of adverse outcomes, including loss of independence, serious falls, care home admission, and mortality. This prognostic information can be useful for making holistic, goal-oriented decisions in partnership with patients, families, and carers. However, alongside this prognostic information, there is also a growing evidence base for community-based interventions that can improve outcomes for older people living with frailty. These include ‘comprehensive geriatric assessments’ (CGA): a multidomain assessment of an older person’s medical, functional, social, psychological, and environmental needs to develop a shared care plan, which can sustain independence and reduce unplanned risk of admission to hospital.3,4 However, it needs to be targeted at appropriate cohorts of people to be feasible in the community. Alongside CGA, there is evidence that physical activity-based interventions, delivered alone or in combination with nutritional support, can improve outcomes in frailty.5
There is a lack of consensus on a standardised tool to measure and identify frailty, and in practice many methods can be used. This includes simple screening instruments, clinical assessments, the use of biomarker data, and electronic health records (EHRs).6 This editorial aims to improve the understanding of …
