Cognitive frailty in older adults: A concept analysis

Healthy aging is the primary goal of healthcare for older adults in aging societies. The prevention of physical disabilities and dementia is becoming more important. As frailty involves both the physical and cognitive domains, detecting and preventing cognitive frailty early on is key to reversing cognitive diseases such as dementia. In this study, a concept analysis strategy (Walker & Avant, 2019) was applied to define the concept of cognitive frailty in older adults and identify the attributes of (1) presence of subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment, (2) exclusion of concurrent Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia, (3) concomitant physical frailty, and (4) it is revisable. Using the constructed model, borderline and contrary cases were used to explain the concept of cognitive frailty. Finally, the antecedent and consequence factors of cognitive frailty were identified and the empirical measurement tools were evaluated. This analysis may be used to improve nurses’ understanding of cognitive frailty in older adults and to benefit clinical practice and further research.