Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep;39(3):e460-e465.
doi: 10.1111/ajag.12783. Epub 2020 Feb 27.

Medication-related criteria in frailty assessment tools: A narrative review

Marci E Dearing  1   2 , Susan K Bowles  1   2   3 , Jennifer E Isenor  3 , Olga Theou  1   4 , Emily Reeve  1   3   5
Affiliations
Review

Medication-related criteria in frailty assessment tools: A narrative review

Marci E Dearing et al. Australas J Ageing. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To review medication-related criteria within validated frailty tools.

Methods: Narrative review of validated frailty assessment tools. Frailty tools were identified from recently published reviews; each tool was reviewed to determine whether any medication-related criteria were included and how these criteria contributed to the scoring/assessment of frailty.

Results: Eight out of 16 validated frailty tools included medication-related criteria. The majority of criteria were a numerical cut-off of number of medications taken; however, the specific cut-off was not consistent.

Conclusion: Inclusion of medication-related criteria in frailty tools is highly variable. Future research is required to determine whether incorporation of medication use into frailty assessment can impact outcomes in terms of frailty prevention and treatment.

Keywords: assessment tool; frailty; medicine; polypharmacy; tool.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Theou O, Squires E, Mallery K et al. What do we know about frailty in the acute care setting? A scoping review. BMC Geriatr. 2018;18(1):139.
    1. Dent E, Kowal P, Hoogendijk E. Frailty measurement in research and clinical practice: a review. Eur J Intern Med. 2016;31:3-10.
    1. Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J et al. Frailty in older adults: Evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56(3):M146-M156.
    1. Clegg A, Young J, Iliffe S, Rikkert M, Rockwood K. Frailty in elderly people. Lancet. 2013;381(9868):752-762.
    1. Masnoon N, Shakib S, Kalisch Ellett L, Caughey G. What is polypharmacy? A systematic review of definitions. BMC Geriatr. 2017;17(1):230.

LinkOut - more resources