title: How common is frailty in older Australians?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of frailty in a cohort of older Australians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Frailty status of the 2087 participants of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing was assessed based on the questionnaire responses at the baseline interview. Frailty status and prevalence were assessed using four measures: two unidimensional measures (the Frailty Phenotype and Simplified Frailty Phenotype) and two multidimensional measures (Frailty Index and Prognostic Frailty Score). Agreement between the four measures was determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The multidimensional measures identified more people as frail (17.5 and 49.4%) than did the unidimensional (2 and 8.8%). There was little agreement between the measures; only 0.5% of the participants were identified as frail by all four measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The apparent prevalence of frailty varied when different measures were used. It is important for clinicians and researchers to be aware that different frailty measures may identify different groups of older people as frail.
authors.affiliation: Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Imaina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Widagdo
authors.affiliation: Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roughead
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D018737:Hand Strength; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010641:Phenotype; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013577:Syndrome; D016138:Walking; D015431:Weight Loss
keywords: Australia; frailty; frailty measure; older people; prevalence