Skip to main content
Log in

Looking for frailty in community-dwelling older persons: The Gerontopole Frailty Screening Tool (GFST)

The journal of nutrition, health & aging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The frailty syndrome is a pre-disability condition suitable to be targeted by preventive interventions against disability. In order to identify frail older persons at risk of negative outcomes, general practitioners must be provided with an easy and quick screening tool for detecting frailty without special effort. In the present paper, we present the screening tool for frailty that the Gérontopôle of Toulouse (France) has developed and implemented in primary care in the region with the collaboration of the Department of Family Medicine of the University of Toulouse. The Gérontopôle Frailty Screening Tool (GFST) is designed to be administered to persons aged ≥65 years with no physical disability and acute clinical disease. It is composed by an initial questionnaire aimed at attracting the general practitioner’s attention to very general signs and/or symptoms suggesting the presence of an underlying frailty status. Then, in a second section, the general practitioner expresses his/her own view about the frailty status of the individual. The clinical judgment of the general practitioner is finally retained for determining the eventual presence of frailty. Preliminary data document that almost everyone (95.2%) of the 442 patients referred to the Gérontopôle frailty clinic by general practitioners using the GFST indeed presents a condition of (pre-)frailty according to the criteria proposed by Fried and colleagues in the Cardiovascular Health Study. The use of the GFST may help at raising awareness about the importance of identifying frailty, training healthcare professionals at the detection of the syndrome, and developing preventive interventions against disabling conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vellas B, Cestac P, Moley JE. Implementing frailty into clinical practice: we cannot wait. J Nutr Health Aging 2012; 16: 599–600.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Clegg A, Young J, Iliffe S, Rikkert MO, Rockwood K. Frailty in elderly people. Lancet 2013; 381: 752–762.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Morley JE, Haren MT, Rolland Y, Kim MJ. Frailty. Med Clin North Am 2006; 90: 837–847.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Cesari M. Frailty and aging. J Frailty Aging 2012; 1: 3–5.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Subra J, Gillette-Guyonnet S, Cesari M, Oustric S, Vellas B. The integration of frailty into clinical practice: preliminary results from the gérontopôle. J Nutr Health Aging 2012; 16: 714–720.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ferrucci L, Guralnik JM, Studenski S et al. Designing randomized, controlled trials aimed at preventing or delaying functional decline and disability in frail, older persons: a consensus report. J Am Geriatr Soc 2004; 52: 625–634.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Katz S, Ford AB, Moskowitz RW, Jackson BA, Jaffe MW. Studies of illness in the aged. The index of ADL: a standardized measure of biological and psychosocial function. JAMA 1963; 185: 914–919.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. 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: M146–56.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Morley JE, Abbatecola AM, Argiles JM et al. Sarcopenia with limited mobility: an international consensus. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2011; 12: 403–409.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Boyle PA, Buchman AS, Wilson RS, Leurgans SE, Bennett DA. Physical frailty is associated with incident mild cognitive impairment in community-based older persons. J Am Geriatr Soc 2010; 58: 248–255.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Avila-Funes JA, Pina-Escudero SD, Aguilar-Navarro S, Gutierrez-Robledo LM, Ruiz-Arregui L, Amieva H. Cognitive impairment and low physical activity are the components of frailty more strongly associated with disability. J Nutr Health Aging 2011; 15: 683–689.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Houles M, Canevelli M, Abellan Van Kan G, Ousset PJ, Cesari M, Vellas B. Frailty and cognition. J Frailty Aging 2012; 1: 56–63.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Auyeung TW, Lee JS, Kwok T, Woo J. Physical frailty predicts future cognitive decline — a four-year prospective study in 2737 cognitively normal older adults. J Nutr Health Aging 2011; 15: 690–694.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Barusch A, Waters DL. Social engagement of frail elders. J Frailty Aging 2012; 1: 189–194.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gutierrez-Robledo LM, Avila-Funes JA. How to include the social factor for determining frailty? J Frailty Aging 2012; 1: 13–17.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matteo Cesari.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vellas, B., Balardy, L., Gillette-Guyonnet, S. et al. Looking for frailty in community-dwelling older persons: The Gerontopole Frailty Screening Tool (GFST). J Nutr Health Aging 17, 629–631 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-013-0363-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-013-0363-6

Key words

Navigation