Describing elderly patients as frail can be bad for their health, doctors are warned

DOCTORS who describe elderly people as “frail” may inadvertently be harming their health by making them less likely to seek treatment for common conditions.

Research by the British Geriatrics Society and the charity Age UK found that while medical specialists use the term routinely, it means something more extreme to the public.

For medical specialists it is a term used to help classify patients’ needs by scoring their frailty on a scale.

But in interviews with groups of elderly people with conditions that would officially class them as “living with frailty”, many reacted with anger and offence at the suggestion. For many, it was assumed to mean a permanent or terminal decline rather than being potentially reversible with treatment.

When asked to define frailty, phrases participants came up with included “bony”, shrivelled”, “skinny”, “wasting away” and “little old lady”.

One 83-year-old man who had suffered from health problems summed up the reaction of others in the survey, saying: “I’m not frail – that’s someone who can’t do anything, who’s wasting away, thin and skinny.”

A 71-year-old, woman who receives some help, added: “No, I’m definitely not frail – frail means you’re doddery and shaky, you can’t do anything.”

The study, compiled by the research group BritainThinks, warned: “Older people consulted in this research have a strong aversion to the term ‘frail’; it is not part of their vocabulary when they talk about themselves and their lives.

“Even those research participants with high scores on the Rockwood Frailty Scale did not spontaneously mention the word ‘frail’ when asked to describe their physical and mental state.”

Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, said: “Frailty is all at once a medical term and a noun, but as the research shows for many older people it feels like a judgment.

“People described as living with frailty must be recognised as having unmet needs.

“We know that if they get the right sort of care the need for emergency help is minimised.”