Frailty is a key contributor to overall global ageing and has huge public health significance. It is a syndrome defined by an increased vulnerability to stressors that is driven by a break down of the functional (social/clinical/biochemical) processes over our lifetime. This breakdown leads to an elevated risk of developing a range of adverse events, including a fall, hospitalization or rapid changes in healthcare needs that result in increased healthcare costs. Currently over £5.6Bn per annum is spent across the UK on frail individuals in the NHS in comparison to age matched non-frail patients. In the context of an ageing population and finite health and social care resources, the early identification of individuals at a high-risk of frailty is crucial to maintaining their wellbeing, dignity and fulfilment in later life. This is also vital with respect to patient care, as understanding an individual’s ability to respond and recover from clinical treatments is critical to inform the selection of appropriate healthcare interventions and maximise post-operative recovery and healthspan.
