[Recognize the frailty: A challenge in general medicine]

Frailty is the most problematic expression of population ageing. It is a state of vulnerability to poor resolution of homoeostasis after a stressor event and is a consequence of cumulative decline in many physiological systems during a lifetime leading to functional dependence. It is before the onset of functional dependence that detection of the frailty by the general practitioner is essential in order to tend to compress morbidity. After an attempt for operational definition of frailty this paper reviews methodological, semantic and logistical pitfalls of screening for frailty in general medicine. The use of frailty would allow general practitioners to introduce early interventions in the care for the older person, thus shifting the care towards a preventive course and thereby reducing the adverse outcomes as well as the public costs.