Understanding the FRAIL scale
The FRAIL scale is a brief, validated frailty screening tool developed by Morley and colleagues (2012) for the International Association of Nutrition and Aging Task Force. It belongs to the same family of deficit-based instruments as the classic Rockwood frailty index, but condenses the idea into five simple yes/no-style questions that can be asked or measured in a few minutes.
How the score is built
- Fatigue: one point if you felt tired most of the time or all of the time over the last four weeks.
- Resistance: one point if you have difficulty walking up 10 steps without resting or without aids.
- Ambulation: one point if you have difficulty walking several hundred yards (roughly 300 meters) alone and without aids.
- Illnesses: one point if five or more of eleven common chronic conditions are present (for example hypertension, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease, heart attack, congestive heart failure, angina, asthma, arthritis, stroke, and kidney disease).
- Loss of weight: one point if body weight has dropped by more than 5% over the past year.
Adding the five components together gives the FRAIL score, a whole number from 0 to 5.
Interpreting your score
A score of 0 is classified as robust (non-frail). A score of 1 or 2 is pre-frail, meaning some but not most criteria are present. A score of 3 to 5 is frail. Higher scores are associated with greater vulnerability to adverse outcomes such as falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality, consistent with the broader deficit-accumulation model of frailty.
When to consult a professional
This tool performs the standard FRAIL scale arithmetic for education and screening. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace a clinical assessment. A pre-frail or frail result is a reason to discuss a fuller geriatric evaluation with a healthcare professional, not a standalone answer.