Outcome instruments to measure frailty: a systematic review
Abstract
Frailty is one of the greatest challenges for healthcare professionals. The level of frailty depends on several interrelated factors and can change over time while different interventions seem to be able to influence the level of frailty. Therefore, an outcome instrument to measure frailty with sound clinimetric properties is needed. A systematic review on evaluative measures of frailty was performed in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cinahl and Cochrane. The results show numerous instruments that measure the level of frailty. This article gives a clear overview of the content of these frailty instruments and describes their clinimetric properties. Frailty instruments, however, are often developed as prognostic instruments and have also been validated as such. The clinimetric properties of these instruments as evaluative outcome measures are unclear.
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A systematic review identified 20 candidate tools for frailty.
“A systematic review with a broadly based study selection criteria identified 20 candidate tools for frailty (99).”
From Frailty in elderly people (2013) · cites this paper as [99]
Most included studies in that review described primary research to investigate models of frailty or focused on functional restriction, which is insufficient for reliable identification of frailty.
“most of the included studies described either primary research to investigate models of frailty or the focus was on functional restriction, which, although an important manifestation of frailty, is insufficient for reliable identification of the condition.”
From Frailty in elderly people (2013) · cites this paper as [99]
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- Authors
- de Vries, N. M., Staal, J. B., van Ravensberg, C. D., Hobbelen, J. S. M., Olde Rikkert, M. G. M., & Nijhuis-van der Sanden, M. W. G.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- ORCID
- Staal, J.B.
- Venue
- Ageing Research Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 104-114
- ISSN
- 1568-1637 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1989930174
- Cited by
- 793
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 60 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 79 · 2018: 64 · 2017: 78 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ageing Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Frailty in Older Adults
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Keywords
- frailty, frailty assessment tools, outcome measures, clinimetric properties, instrument validation, frailty interventions
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Humans, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Self-Assessment, Reproducibility of Results, Geriatric Assessment, Frail Elderly, Treatment Outcome, Outcome Assessment, Health Care
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