Evaluation of frailty and its impact on geriatric assessment

Frailty has become an increasingly important topic, being directly correlated with ageing, presence of comorbidities, and also with other factors. It is a state of high vulnerability and is a consequence of ageing-related decline in whole body functioning. In order to initiate preventive and therapeutic measures, we need to identify the characteristics of current frail older adults. To identify the characteristics of frailty depending on age, area of residence and to assess the relationship between frailty and disability, cognitive impairment, malnutrition, depression and comorbidities.

Included in the study were 663 consecutively admitted patients over the age of 65. Frailty was evaluated using the Fried criteria and a comprehensive geriatric assessment. The mean age of the subjects enrolled in this study was 76.58 ± 6.5 years, most of the patients residing in rural areas (62.4%).

A diagnosis of frailty was made in 73% of the study patients. The presence of frailty was found to be negatively correlated, statistically significant with cognitive function assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination (P = 0.039, r = -0.094) and malnutrition assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment (P = 0.001, r = -0.151). Also, the presence of frailty was positively correlated, statistically significant with depression evaluated by Geriatric Depression Scale (P = 0.046, r = 0.093).

Frailty is a common condition in the surveyed elderly population. It is associated with the presence of other geriatric syndromes such as malnutrition, cognitive impairment, depression, and is influenced by age.