The Concept of Frailty: A Review of the Literature

노인허약에 대한 고찰

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review and identify the meaning and components of the concept, Frailty. Method: We conducted literature review of studies that concluded the word of 'frail' or 'frailty between 1980 and 2008, and used MEDLINE, CINAHL database to select the articles. Results: Frailty is defined as a concept with multidomains, which are physical, cognitive, psychological, social. Critical characteristics of Frailty include multidominal deficiency, combined accumulation, diminished ability to keep up the independence of daily living, states beyond one's reserve capacity, dynamic relativity, proximity to adverse health outcome, aggregated symptoms. Frailty is caused by decreased physical activity, loss of sensory function, Chronic symptoms or signs, relationship with Caregiver, social isolation. Moreover, Frail elderly is at risk of falls and institutionalization. Conclusion: Frailty is very useful concept, because it has the potential to identify the elderly population at risk of adverse health outcomes. Based on this results, the appropriate tool for screening Korean Frail elderly and Nursing intervention for them needs to be developed.