A brief clinical instrument to classify frailty in elderly people

Increasingly, the term frailty is used to describe combinations of ageing, disease, and other factors (eg, fitness, nutritional status) that make some people vulnerable. There is no broadly accepted definition or standard system for classification of elderly people who are at risk for adverse health outcomes. 1 Rockwood K Fox RA Stolee P Robertson D Beattie BL Frailty in elderly people: an evolving concept. Cam Med Assoc J. 1994; 150: 489-495 PubMed Google Scholar We assessed the criterion validity of a short candidate measure of frailty in prediction of death and institutionalisation.