Investigating the use of ‘frailty’ on death certificates and admission
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the use of ‘frailty’ on death certificates and admission information- a retrospective case note analysis
IRAS ID
243673
Contact name
Margaret M. Dunham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 14 days
Research summary
Frailty is a significant factor in the morbidity and mortality of older people. Frailty has been defined as "…a distinctive health state related to the ageing process in which multiple body systems gradually lose their in-built reserves" (BGS, 2014a) and is a recognised syndrome in the UK. Increasing numbers of older people are admitted to hospital with acute problems and are either admitted with frailty or become frail after admission. Frailty affects clinical outcomes and may be a cause of death but is not an inevitable consequence of ageing. This leads to questions of how frailty might be detected and prevented in an inpatient population. This is a preliminary study to investigate the use of the term 'frailty' and whether the use in case records is consistent with the use on death certificates.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0399
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion