Socio-economic and spatial stratification of frailty in the older population

To measure the frailty level of old individuals and identify elderly with peculiar health care needs, the frailty indicator has been proposed. This indicator presents a simple structure that counts only eight variables; in this way, it is easy to replicate and implement. The indicator is based on administrative healthcare data that are available to the entire population. It is useful to predict the seven negative health outcomes related to the frailty condition, following the definition of a frail subject as susceptible to negative outcomes. Moreover, the indicator is useful to stratify the population on the basis of care needs and captures also some socioeconomic dimensions of frailty, although only health variables are used for its construction.