Frailty is an established concept which provides the basis of many of the studies that Diabetes Frail and its associated partners in the consortium are involved with. Frailty is an age-associated syndrome characterised by an increased vulnerability to minor stressors, increasing the risk of adverse outcomes such as disability, falls and death. The diagnosis of frailty consists of several do-mains, including physical impairments (e.g. low gait speed, fatigue and low grip strength), weight loss, and low physical activity. The prevalence of frailty in people aged over 65 years is high and increases with age. Frailty is one of the main predictors of adverse outcomes in older people, including death, hospital admission, permanent institutionalisation, falls and disability.
Frailty is a dynamic process with broad opportunities for intervention to prevent/manage the condition and to delay or avoid disability. The Vivifrail project focusses on the intervention process, aiming to educate on nutrition and exercise based early intervention and prevention strategies to avoid the adverse outcomes of frailty and improve quality of life for older people in their environment.