Multidimensional frailty evaluation in elderly outpatients with chronic heart failure: A prospective study

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is frequently linked to clinical frailty, a complex geriatric condition associated with negative outcomes. However, the full characterization of frailty is still debated. Fried and colleagues focused on a ‘physical phenotype’ of frailty based on the assessment of unintentional weight loss, muscle weakness, slow walking speed, low physical activity, and exhaustion,1 while Rockwood and colleagues fostered a multidimensional concept involving, besides physical impairments, comorbidity, disability, mental, nutritional, and social components (known as the ‘Canadian frailty index’).