Management of frailty at individual level - Clinical management: Systematic literature review

Abstract

Introduction: To deliver quality management of a frail individual, a clinician should understand the concept of frailty, be aware of its epidemiology and be able to screen for frailty and assess it when it is present, and, finally, to recommend successful interventions. Methodology: A systematic literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Cinahl and UpToDate. The criterion in selecting the literature was that articles were published in the period from 2002 to 2017. From 67432 initial hits, 27 publications were selected. Results: Useful interventions to address frailty are supplementation of Vitamin D, proper nutrition, multicomponent training, home-based physiotherapy and comprehensive geriatric assessment, particularly when performed in geriatric wards. Conclusion: Comprehensive geriatric assessment is an effective way to decrease frailty status especially when performed in geriatric wards. Multicomponent physical training and multidimensional interventions (physical training, nutrition, Vitamin D supplementation and cognitive training) are effective measures to reduce frailty.