• geriatrics

Frailty is an umbrella term that combines information from a range of sources into a word that conveys neatly and quickly—in the right context—the sentiment of an individual’s physicality. Recent exposure to more stroke and general medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded neurologists of its relevance to goal setting, particularly in relation to invasive treatments such as ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

An assessment of premorbid frailty—based on a range of factors including activity levels indoors and outdoors, presence or absence of symptoms, and dependency for activities of daily living—is now routinely scored and recorded in many medical and surgical settings, and used to inform treatment decisions. The popularity of the term and its role in decision-making justifies a pause to become more familiar with what frailty exactly means, and scrutinise the situations in which its use is likely to be appropriate or inappropriate. In this regard, Pollock and Smith’s1 article in this issue should be …