Assessment tools for frailty in elderly adults: A scoping review

Frailty is considered an age-related clinical syndrome, and there is currently no internationally accepted standard definition. All older adults are at risk of developing frailty, which is caused by a decline in the function of various physiological systems and a weakening of the stress response.It affects the quality of life of the elderly population, significantly increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes such as falls, depression, and cognitive impairment, while also being positively correlated with key public health indicators such as hospitalization rates and mortality rates. It is the most serious public health challenge facing aging societies in the 21st century. As the population ages, frailty is becoming increasingly common. A report covering 62 countries worldwide indicates that the prevalence of frailty exhibits an age-graded pattern. Among community-dwelling individuals, the prevalence of frailty is 11% among those aged 50–59, approximately 10% among those aged 65 and older, rising to 25–50% among those aged 85 and older, and reaching 51% among those aged 90 and older.Older adults in acute care hospitals and nursing homes, people in low- and middle-income countries, and socially disadvantaged populations are at higher risk of frailty.For personalized, patient-centered management of frail elderly patients, it is particularly important to accurately screen and identify frail individuals.Although scholars at home and abroad have developed many frailty assessment tools over the past 30 years, assessors still lack a globally standardized assessment strategy for tool selection due to factors such as cultural adaptability, health resource allocation, and applicable populations,The diversity of assessment tools has led to confusion in clinical practice, and the value of their assessment results for precise intervention and health management is also worth considering. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically synthesize this collective knowledge to provide a comprehensive overview of the scope of application of frailty assessment tools for the elderly. We decided to conduct a scoping review due to the broad and exploratory nature of our research question. Given the novelty of the topic and the lack of mature literature, a scoping review is the most appropriate method.