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Mark twelve binary deficits drawn from common geriatric vulnerability themes (energy, nutrition, mobility, medications, falls, function, cognition, care utilization, mood, and multimorbidity). The frailty index (FI) is deficits present ÷ 12—the core idea of Rockwood-type deficit accumulation in a compact form. Categories (lower / moderate / higher) are for education only, not the full multi-domain inventories used in research, not the Clinical Frailty Scale, and not preoperative clearance. See more on medical & health calculators.
Last updated: April 20, 2026
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Moderate deficit burden (educational)
FI 0.25
3 / 12 deficits
Moderate deficit burden: a useful prompt for structured geriatric review, medication reconciliation, falls history, and advance care planning conversations in teaching scenarios.
Research frailty indices often use 30–70+ deficits across domains; this 12-item list is abbreviated for teaching. Do not label someone “frail” for legal or insurance purposes from a website.
Frailty is modeled as a proportion of age-related health deficits rather than a single biomarker—useful for teaching how geriatric syndromes cluster.
Research FI denominators vary with available survey items. Here the denominator is fixed so learners can compare FI across classroom scenarios without reweighting.
Items reference walking, activity frequency, falls, and IADL proxies commonly discussed in geriatric assessment introductions.
Polypharmacy, recent hospitalization, and five or more chronic conditions reflect workload and treatment burden themes in frailty teaching.
Frailty overlaps with cognitive vulnerability and mood; items are self-report placeholders, not MMSE or PHQ-9 scores.
Clinicians may also use the Clinical Frailty Scale pictorial anchor or FRAIL mnemonic screens—this page focuses on deficit-index arithmetic for learning.
Default demo: exhaustion, slow walking, and polypharmacy (5+ meds) → 3 / 12 deficits → FI = 0.25 (moderate burden on this page).
0–2 deficits → lower; 3–4 → moderate; 5+ → higher. These are classroom labels—not universal research cutoffs.
Each “yes” increments the numerator. The denominator stays at 12 so the frailty index is always comparable between classmates solving the same case vignette. Higher FI correlates with worse outcomes in many population studies, but individual prognosis requires clinician context.
Published deficit lists are curated from comprehensive datasets (self-report, examination, laboratory, administrative codes). This checklist is a pedagogical slice to practice the FI concept without reproducing any single cohort’s variable set.
For kidney-function context in polypharmacy teaching, pair with our GFR calculator.
Get a Custom Calculator for Your PlatformSuppose seven items are “yes”: exhaustion, weight loss, slow walking, polypharmacy, falls, IADL difficulty, and five or more chronic conditions. FI = 7 / 12 ≈ 0.58 → higher on this page—time in curriculum for comprehensive geriatric assessment, caregiver support, and medication reconciliation—not automatic high-risk labels in the EHR.
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