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Frailty

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Geriatric Urology

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Abstract

Frailty is a condition often conceptually associated with advancing age. However, it should not be considered an inevitable or necessarily a normal part of the aging process. Frailty is considered to be one of the geriatric syndromes, meaning that it is multifactorial, is linked to aging, and can have a variety of clinical outcomes and effects. In the most popular validated conceptual model, often referred to as the “frailty phenotype,” frailty is characterized by several measureable clinical changes. These include unintentional weight loss of ≥10 pounds in 1 year, low levels of physical activity, self-reported exhaustion, weakness as measured by diminished handgrip strength, and slow walking speed. In this model, frailty was defined as the presence of three or more of these characteristics. Intermediate frailty was defined as having one or two of the variables. In other studies, intermediate frailty is sometimes referred to as “prefrailty.” Ongoing research is helping to better clarify the operational definition of frailty, and the utility of these measures in predicting clinical outcomes among older adults. Continued work may help to reduce the incidence of frailty and prevent associated adverse outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology and The Landon Center on Aging, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 5021 Sudler, Mailstop 3016, 3901, Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, KS, 66160, USA

    Tomas Lindor Griebling M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.G.S.A., A.G.S.F.

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  1. Tomas Lindor Griebling M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.G.S.A., A.G.S.F.
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Correspondence to Tomas Lindor Griebling M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., F.G.S.A., A.G.S.F. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology and the Landon Center on Aging, The University of Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    Tomas Lindor Griebling

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Griebling, T.L. (2014). Frailty. In: Griebling, T. (eds) Geriatric Urology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9047-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9047-0_4

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