Frailty changes in the pre-pandemic and periods in Scotland: retrospective cohort analysis of longitudinal data

Frailty is a clinical condition that makes an older person more vulnerable to worsening health, increasing disability, and even death. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to more people becoming frail in the UK. Mandated lockdowns during the pandemic led to older adults doing less physical activity and experiencing poor mental health, and these are known to worsen frailty. To date, there is no research on how frailty levels have changed in the population before, during, and after the pandemic. In this study, we will examine frailty changes during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods (2015–present) in Scotland. We plan to use primary care and hospital data of older adults aged 50 and over living in Scotland. Our findings would help identify older adults who developed frailty during the pandemic, and whose frailty levels worsened. We can also identify factors that contributed to worsening frailty, helping clinicians design targeted plans for patients.