Application of Pragmatic Criteria to Assessments of Frailty and Physical Function among People with HIV

Abstract

Routine screening for any condition in a clinical setting should be pragmatic, meaning that the screening is feasible, relevant, and actionable to patients and providers. Glasgow et al. proposed a set of criteria to evaluate whether or not a screening tool can be considered pragmatic. Although recent guidelines recommend screening for frailty among older adults with HIV, routine frailty screening may be challenging given that the tools are often time-consuming, and the diagnosis is not always directly actionable given that it can encompass multiple systemic deficits. Assessments of physical function, a component of frailty, may be more pragmatic for routine screening because they are generally less burdensome to administer, results are directly actionable, and objective results are responsive to change over time. The purpose of this viewpoint article is to assess frailty and physical function assessments through the lens of Glasgow’s pragmatic criteria.