NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre in Ageing & Chronic Disease

Ageing & Frailty

An important feature of health status in older people is the risk of 'frailty', a state of high vulnerability, associated with multiple adverse health outcomes, for which the biological underlying causes are as yet little understood. Despite widespread use of the term and general agreement about its importance, there is not yet a universally-agreed, clinically-validated definition of frailty.

We will combine current approaches and assessment frailty models based on both the study of clinical syndrome of specific signs and symptoms and a cumulative index of multiple health deficits in order to gain knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. To date, we are focusing our effort towards developing a comprehensive, biologically informed metric of frailty using the clinical and biological richness of the Newcastle 85+ Study, where the longitudinal data now becoming available for analysis will allow us to ascertain which measures best predict adverse outcomes and understand the differences between healthy older people and those who experience earlier decline.

Within this theme we intend to translate research findings from cohort studies into new tools that will facilitate a more precise assessment of frailty in patients attending NHS clinics, initially focusing on the new CRESTA clinics, in order to identify better ways to manage individuals experiencing, or at significant risk of, frailty.