title: Assessing frailty in surgical candidates.
abstract: Older adults account for an increasingly large proportion of the population. These patients have more comorbidities as well as indications for surgical interventions. Current preoperative risk assessment tools have limited utility. This article describes methods of assessing patient frailty, which offers superior predictive power about postoperative complications, discharge disposition, and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Bradley Haveman-Gould is an adjunct faculty member in the PA program at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., and practices internal medicine with Mercy Health Physician Partners at Saint Mary's Healthcare in Grand Rapids, Mich. Katalin Lyons is a student in the Drexel University PA program. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haveman-Gould
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lyons
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors