Handle with care

Community based screening for frailty in older people is attracting a degree of attention in the literature. A review of how frailty is recognised and managed in primary care is a timely addition. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society publishes a panel review of screening older people for particular conditions, as represented in a raft of guidelines. They find that screening for insufficient physical activity, cardiovascular risk factors and smoking are appropriate in aiming to prevent functional decline. A systematic review of screening tools for use in primary health care identifies the Tilburg Frailty Indicator and the SHARE Frailty Index as the most appropriate. A prospective study in a community context looks at Tilburg alongside the Gronigen Frailty Indicator and the Sherbrooke Postal Questionnaire.