Department of Family Medicine, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA, and Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, North Tampa (Drs. Wilson and Colistra and Ms. Hansen); Family Medicine Residency Program, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA (Dr. Giusto) lynn_m.wilson@lvhn.org
The authors reported no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.
The Fried Frailty Index defines frailty as a purely physical condition; patients need to exhibit 3 of 5 components (ie, weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity) to be deemed frail.31 The Edmonton Frail Scale is commonly used in geriatric assessments and counts impairments across several domains including physical activity, mood, cognition, and incontinence.30,32,33 Physicians need to complete a training course prior to its use. Finally, the definition of frailty used by Rockwood et al28, 29 was used to develop the Clinical Frailty Scale, which relies on broader criteria that include social and psychological elements in addition to physical elements.The Clinical Frailty Scale uses clinician judgment to evaluate patient-specific domains (eg, comorbidities, functionality, and cognition) and to generate a score ranging from 1 (very fit) to 9 (terminally ill).29 This scale is accessible and easy to implement. As a result, use of this scale has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. All definitions include a pre-frail state, indicating the dynamic nature of frailty over time.
It is important to identify pre-frail and frail older adults using 1 of these screening tools. Interventions to reverse frailty that can be initiated in the primary care setting include identifying treatable medical conditions, assessing medication appropriateness, providing nutritional advice, and developing an exercise plan.34
Conduct a nutritional assessment; consider this diet. Studies show that nutritional status can predict physical function and frailty risk in older adults. A 2017 systematic review of 19 studies (N = 22,270) of frail adults ages ≥ 65 years found associations related to specific dietary constructs (ie, micronutrients, macronutrients, antioxidants, overall diet quality, and timing of consumption).35 Plant-based diets with higher levels of micronutrients, such as vitamins C and E and beta-carotene, or diets with more protein or macronutrients, regardless of source foods, all resulted in inverse associations with frailty syndrome.35
A 2017 study showed that physical exercise and maintaining good nutritional status may be effective for preventing frailty in community-dwelling pre-frail older individuals.36 A 2019 study showed that a combination of muscle strength training and protein supplementation was the most effective intervention to delay or reverse frailty and was easiest to implement in primary care.37 A 2020 meta-analysis of 31 studies (N = 4794) addressing frailty among primary care patients > 60 years showed that interventions using predominantly resistance-based exercise and nutrition supplementation improved frailty status over the control.38 Researchers also found that a comprehensive geriatric assessment or exercise—alone or in combination with nutrition education—reduced physical frailty.
Mentation
Screen and treat cognitive impairments.Cognitive function and autonomy in decision-making are important factors in healthy aging. Aspects of mental health (eg, depression and anxiety), sensory impairment (eg, visual and auditory impairment), and mentation issues (eg, delirium, dementia, and related conditions), as well as diet, physical exercise, and mobility, can all impede cognitive functionality. The long-term effects of depression, anxiety,39 sensory deficits,40 mobility,41 diet,42 and, ultimately, aging may impact Alzheimer disease (AD). The risk of an AD diagnosis increases with age.39
