1. Very Fit– People who are robust, active, energetic and motivated. These people commonly exercise regularly. They are among the fittest for their age.
7. Severely Frail – Completely dependent for personal care, from whatever cause (physical or cognitive). Even so, they seem stable and not at high risk of dying (within – 6 months).
8. Very Severely Frail – Completely dependent. Approaching the end of life. Typically they could not recover even from a minor illness.
9. Terminally Ill –Approaching the end of life. This category applies to people with a life expectancy <6 months, who are not otherwise evidently frail.
Scoring frailty in people with dementia
- The degree of frailty corresponds to the degree of dementia.
- Common symptoms in mild dementia include forgetting the details of a recent event, though still remembering the event itself, repeating the same question/story and social withdrawal.
- In moderate dementia, recent memory is very impaired, even though they seemingly can remember their past life events well. They can do personal care with prompting.
- In severe dementia, they cannot do personal care without help.
Key Terms & Links
Canadian Study on Health & Aging, Revised 2008.
K. Rockwood et al. A global clinical measure of fitness and frailty in elderly people. CMAJ 2005;173:489-495.
© 2007-2009. Version 1.2. All rights reserved. Geriatric Medicine Research, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. Permission granted to copy for research and educational purposes only.
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