Clinical Frailty Scale

Written By Aud Lee

The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) was introduced in the second clinical examination of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging(CSHA) as a way to summarize the overall level of fitness or frailty of an older adult after they had been evaluated by an experienced clinician.

It has evolved for clinical use, and is now a widely used judgement based tool to screen for frailty and to broadly stratify degrees of fitness and frailty.

The CFS is validated for older adults aged 65 and older.

The baseline health status and function of the patient in the prior 2 weeks before illness onset should be used to obtain the score.

If unable to obtain the required information, need to defer assessment until a complete history is obtained.

Why do CFS?

  • Quick to complete

  • Easy to understand

  • Can be used both in community and different healthcare settings

  • Can be done by anyone with minimal training

  • Does not need any specialized equipment or measurements

In persons with dementia:

  • Mild Dementia

    Short-term memory loss is common, but they can do BADLs independently, and may need help with some iADLs

    CFS 5

  • Moderate Dementia

    Recent memory is very impaired and they often need help with bADLs

    CFS 6

  • Severe Dementia

    Dependant on others for bADLs

    CFS 7

  • Very severe dementia

    Usually bed-bound and uncommunicative

    CFS 8

There is also a Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) app which is available to download for use on mobile devices, to undertake clinical frailty scoring with patients in real time. It works by responding with a simple Yes or No to a series of nine questions, starting at the most severely frail end of the scale.

The app is free to download from the Apple and Android app stores.

Aud Lee
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Introduction to Frailty