Frailty syndrome

Frailty syndrome
A woman supporting herself with a walking frame.
Specialty	Geriatrics

Frailty is a common and clinically significant grouping of symptoms that occurs in aging and older adults. These symptoms can include decreased physical abilities such as walking, excessive fatigue, and weight and muscle loss leading to declined physical status. In addition, frailty encompasses a decline in both overall physical function and physiologic reserve of organ systems resulting in worse health outcomes for this population.^[1][2] This syndrome is associated with increased risk of heart disease, falls, hospitalization, and death.^[3][4] In addition, it has been shown that adults living with frailty face more anxiety and depression symptoms than those who do not.^[5] The presence of frailty varies based on the assessment technique, however it is estimated that 4-16% of the population over 65 years old is living with frailty.^[6]

Frailty can have impacts on public health due to the factors that comprise the syndrome affecting physical and mental health outcomes. There are several ways to identify, prevent, and mitigate the prevalence of frailty and the evaluation of frailty can be done through clinical assessments created to combine recognized signs and symptoms of frailty.