Frailty in Elderly People

Overview

Journal Lancet

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2013 Feb 12

PMID 23395245

Citations 3243

Authors

Andrew Clegg

John Young

Steve Iliffe

Marcel Olde Rikkert

Kenneth Rockwood

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

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. This cumulative decline depletes homoeostatic reserves until minor stressor events trigger disproportionate changes in health status. In landmark studies, investigators have developed valid models of frailty and these models have allowed epidemiological investigations that show the association between frailty and adverse health outcomes. We need to develop more efficient methods to detect frailty and measure its severity in routine clinical practice, especially methods that are useful for primary care. Such progress would greatly inform the appropriate selection of elderly people for invasive procedures or drug treatments and would be the basis for a shift in the care of frail elderly people towards more appropriate goal-directed care.

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