It is important to assess for frailty in order to find out which patients are more at risk of adverse health outcomes and failure to thrive. This would create the opportunity for providers to work with the patient and their family in order to discuss treatment plans and the goals of caring for the patient. It is recommended for frailty to be screened in those patients who are over 70 years old, living with chronic diseases, or had had weight loss >5% in the past year.

Multiple screening tools exist to measure frailty. The Fried Frailty Tool is commonly used to measure physical frailty, which involves measuring the patient’s grip strength and walking speed, and taking into account weight loss, fatigue, weakness, and decreased physical activity. Deficit accumulation frailty can be measured with a questionnaire-like tool, which asks 20+ questions regarding the patient’s diseases, illnesses, decrease in cognition, and function. There is also the FRAIL mnemonic that allows for rapid assessment.

Score of 3-5 is frail, 1-2 is pre-fail.
Part of the frailty screening can also include checking if patients can rise from a chair 5x without the use of their arms, as well as walk across a room.

Sarcopenia, is defined as a “loss of skeletal muscle and muscle strength”. It can be the result of hormonal changes that occur with age. Sarcopenia can lead to decreases function, including slower walking speed, decreases aerobic endurance, loss of strength, and disability. It is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. To test for sarcopenia, this includes tests such as the grip strength, and walking speed as mentioned previously; and measurement of muscle mass.

• https://www.uptodate.com/contents/frailty?search=frailty&source=search_result&selectedTitle=1~147&usage_type=default&display_rank=1#H2
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6297299/