Does frailty need a new name?

The biomedical concept of frailty has been an important advance in how we approach the care of older people: it is central to better evidenced medicine and policy.1 In high income countries, around 40% of older patients with unplanned hospital admissions are living with moderate or severe frailty.2 Identifying frailty can help clinicians provide best care for such patients, keeping people living at home,3 helping avoid iatrogenic harm,4 and potentially reversing some aspects of frailty.5Reflecting the importance of detecting and acting on frailty, NHS England included assessment targets for acute hospitals in its 2023 Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) guidance, which is linked to performance related financial incentives.6 Globally, national guidelines recommend using frailty to guide patient care and service design.7Research into the nature, underlying mechanisms, measurement, and reversibility of frailty is ongoing.1589 However, here we focus on the term itself, which many older people find pejorative. We consider…
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