The state of frailty in research: A mapping review of its clinical applicability to practice.
Ageing Res Rev
; 72: 101493, 2021 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1491714
ABSTRACT
Research on frailty has expanded in the last decade, but direct evidence supporting its implementation in clinical practice may be limited. This mapping review synthesizes the contexts-of-use and overall clinical applicability of recent pre-COVID frailty research. We sampled 476 articles from articles published on frailty in PubMed and EMBASE in 2017-2018, of which 150 articles were fully appraised for the contexts-of-use, definitions, and interventions. A clinical applicability framework was used to classify articles as practice-changing, practice-informing, or not practice-informing. Of the 476 sampled articles, 31% (n = 150) used frailty in functions that could inform a clinical indication predictor or mediator (26%, n = 125), selection criterion (3%, n = 15), and effect modifier (2%, n = 10). Articles spanned all health disciplines, and cohort studies comprised 91% (n = 137) of studies and trials 9% (n = 13). Thirty-eight frailty definitions using varied cut-offs and a wide range of interventions were identified. Among all articles, 13% (n = 63) of articles were practice-informing, 2% (n = 11) potentially practice-changing, and 0.2% (n = 1) clearly practice-changing. Lack of well-defined intervention and identifiable effect (96%) or originality (83%) were predominant reasons reducing applicability. Only a minority of recent frailty research provides direct evidence of applicability to practice. Future research on frailty should focus on translating frailty, as a risk factor, into a clinical indication and address definition ambiguity.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Frailty
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Reviews
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Ageing Res Rev
Journal subject:
Geriatrics
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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