An Overview of Frailty in Elderly

Abstract

Frailty is an ageing phenomenon and it becomes essential to understand frailty, its causes and consequences as well as the risk factors that will enable us to plan appropriate interventions to target elderly who are at risk and thus preventing them from developing frailty. Frailty is linked with multiple morbidities and it adds on to the burden of the disease on the elderly making them dependent for their basic activities of daily living further deteriorating their overall quality of life. Limited studies have been done to determine association of frailty with nutritional status in the western countries, but in developing countries like India, where the elderly population is increasing at a faster pace; there is a dearth of information regarding the prevalence rates and the associated risk factors. This article attempts to provide an overview of frailty in elderly which may help create awareness among the older age groups and in focusing the attention of the healthcare providers in preventing this phenomenon to reduce the health care costs in our country.

Keywords

• frailty
• elderly
• ageing
• dependency
• disability
• sarcopenia
• malnutrition