Frailty among hospitalized seniors

April 10, 2025 — As Canada’s population ages, it is expected that an increasing number of people will become frail. Individuals living with frailty have an increased risk of hospitalization, longer hospital stays, hospital readmission, emergency department visits and in-hospital death. 

The CIHI Hospital Frailty Risk Measure (CIHI HFRM) is a contextual measure developed to support planning and resourcing for seniors (age 65 and older) in hospitals across Canada. It can be used to ensure appropriate and targeted care for seniors with complex medical needs. 

Key users include health system planners and decision-makers, care delivery managers and health researchers. The measure can be used to 

• Inform models of care for programming, staffing and discharge planning 
• Advance quality improvement efforts and support health research 
• Improve outcomes for hospitalized seniors at risk of frailty in acute care

Using routinely collected administrative data, the CIHI HFRM follows the accumulation of deficits (or frailty conditions) approach to determine risk of frailty. It is not a clinical diagnostic tool for use with individual patients, nor is it a health indicator to be used for comparisons across jurisdictions.