The frailty syndrome in the public health agenda

摘要

A PubMed search of articles in this journal using the text word 'frailty' found only two manuscripts, published in 2010 and 2012. Thus, many readers of the journal may not be familiar with the concept and public health implications of the frailty syndrome. This is notable for several reasons. First, because frailty is a frequent condition, with a prevalence of about 10% in the population over age 60 years, reaching 25% in those aged 80 years and older. Also, in a well-known prospective study among community-dwelling older persons, the most common condition leading to death was frailty (27.9%), followed by organ failure (21.4%), cancer (19.3%) and dementia (13.8%). Additionally, frailty shows an important social gradient, so that women and less educated persons are more likely to be frail and to have an increased risk of worsening frailty status.