title: What are frailty instruments for?
abstract: Frailty is measured to understand its nature and biology, to aid diagnosis and care planning, to measure outcomes and to stratify risk. Such goals oblige two types of frailty measures - for screening and for assessment - and recognition that not all measures will serve all purposes. When the goal is broad identification of people at risk, a dichotomised approach (frailty is present or absent ) is appropriate. If, however, the degree of risk varies, strategies to test grades of frailty will be required. Frailty measures should be implemented and evaluated in relation to the goal for their use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine (Divisions of Geriatric Medicine & Neurology), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Department of Geriatric Medicine & Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Neurosciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rockwood
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Medicine Research, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Theou
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitnitski
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: ageing; care planning; frailty; older people; risk stratification