Frailty in Older Adults: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis

The term frailty is often used to describe a subset of the older population with complex health issues. It is associated with dependence, disability, increased health care use, and mortality. An emergent problem is the lack of consensus as to the etiology and definition of frailty. The purpose of this concept analysis is to clarify the concept of frailty in the context of older adults and propose a definition of frailty that may be relevant to identification of frail older adults. The results from this analysis conclude frailty in older adults is a tenuous state of health that is the result of the complex interplay of physiological, psychosocial, and environmental stressors that increases an older adult’s susceptibility to adverse health outcomes.