Physical function versus frailty for predicting adverse outcomes in older adults

Identifying older adults at risk of unwanted health outcomes such as falls and hospitalizations is needed so that we can lower that risk. Measures of frailty and physical function are often used for screening but few studies compare their ability to predict negative outcomes. This study will compare the ability of five measures of function to four measures of frailty for predicting falls, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, low general health and difficulty performing activities of daily living at 3-year follow-up in older adults. The results of this study will inform choice of screening tools for adverse outcomes in older adults in clinical practice.