FRAIL Scale Calculator
The FRAIL scale is a 5-item screening questionnaire covering Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses, and Loss of weight. Each item scores 0 or 1 point, for a total of 0 to 5. A score of 0 means robust, 1-2 means pre-frail, and 3-5 means frail. It screens for frailty risk — it does not diagnose it.
The FRAIL scale is a short screening questionnaire that looks at five everyday markers of physical decline: fatigue, the ability to climb stairs, the ability to walk a short distance, the number of chronic conditions you've been diagnosed with, and recent unintended weight loss. Each answer is worth zero or one point, so the total score runs from 0 to 5. It was built by Morley, Malmstrom, and Miller as a quick alternative to longer frailty assessments, something a clinician — or anyone curious about their own trajectory — could run through in a couple of minutes. Answer the five questions below as honestly as you can; the calculator does the scoring and tells you where you land.
This calculator is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. A score in the pre-frail or frail range doesn't confirm a clinical diagnosis of frailty — only a qualified clinician can do that, through a proper exam and history. If your result concerns you, bring it to your doctor rather than acting on it alone.
What the FRAIL Scale Actually Measures
FRAIL is an acronym for the five things the questionnaire checks: Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses, and Loss of weight. Morley, Malmstrom, and Miller introduced it in 2012 after testing it on a cohort of middle-aged African Americans, and it's since been used far beyond that original population as a fast first-pass frailty screen.
Each item is deliberately simple. Fatigue asks how often you've felt tired over the past month, and it only counts against you if the answer is "most of the time" or "all of the time." Resistance and ambulation both ask about walking — ten steps without resting, then a longer stretch of several hundred yards, roughly a city block — without using a cane, walker, or other aid. Illnesses tallies how many of eleven common chronic conditions you've been diagnosed with; you need five or more before that item counts. Loss of weight checks for unintended weight loss greater than 5% over the past year.
Add up the five items and you get a score from 0 to 5. A 0 is read as robust. A 1 or 2 is pre-frail. A 3, 4, or 5 is frail. That's the whole instrument — no hidden weighting, no sub-scores, just a simple count.
Why a Five-Question Screen Is Worth Taking Seriously
Frailty isn't just "getting older." It describes a measurable drop in physiological reserve — the body's buffer against stress, illness, or injury — that makes recovery slower and setbacks more likely. Someone who's frail is more prone to falls, more likely to be hospitalized after a minor infection, and more likely to lose independence after a procedure that a robust person would shrug off. Catching that shift early, while it's still in the pre-frail range, is where intervention actually has room to work.
FRAIL deliberately overlaps a little with muscle-focused screens. If you've already run our sarcopenia risk calculator (SARC-F) and scored high there, don't be surprised if fatigue and the stair-climbing item here also come back positive — reduced muscle strength and frailty travel together often enough that the two tools tend to agree. They're not measuring the same thing, though: SARC-F is specifically about sarcopenia, while FRAIL casts a wider net that includes chronic disease burden and unintended weight loss.
Making Sense of Your Score
A score of 0 isn't a guarantee of anything, but it's a reasonable sign that the five domains FRAIL checks aren't currently flagging a problem. Worth re-checking periodically rather than filing away for good.
Landing at 1 or 2 puts you in the pre-frail category — not an emergency, but a reasonable prompt to mention it at your next appointment, especially if the positive items involve fatigue or mobility rather than a long-standing diagnosed condition. A score of 3 or higher is where the questionnaire is designed to raise a flag: it's a reasonable trigger to ask a clinician for a fuller frailty assessment rather than wait for the next scheduled checkup.
One more thing worth knowing if you run several of our calculators back to back: FRAIL and a senior-adjusted BMI reading (our bmi-seniors calculator) measure different problems. Low body weight and frailty correlate, but a normal BMI doesn't rule frailty out, and a high BMI doesn't rule it in — the weight-loss item here is about change over time, not where you sit on a chart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the FRAIL scale actually measure?
Five things: how often you've felt tired over the past month (Fatigue), whether you can climb 10 steps without resting (Resistance), whether you can walk several hundred yards unaided (Ambulation), how many of 11 chronic conditions you've been diagnosed with (Illnesses), and whether you've lost more than 5% of your body weight in the past year (Loss of weight).
How is the FRAIL scale scored?
Each of the five items is worth 0 or 1 point, for a total score from 0 to 5. A score of 0 is classified as robust, 1-2 as pre-frail, and 3-5 as frail.
What counts as a positive (1-point) answer on each item?
Fatigue counts if you felt tired "most of the time" or "all of the time" in the past 4 weeks. Resistance and Ambulation count if you answered "yes" to difficulty with stairs or walking a block. Illnesses counts if you have 5 or more of the 11 listed conditions. Loss of weight counts if you've lost more than 5% of your body weight compared to a year ago.
Is the FRAIL scale the same as the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS)?
No. This is not the same instrument as the Clinical Frailty Scale. FRAIL is a separate five-item questionnaire developed by Morley, Malmstrom, and Miller, scored 0-5 from patient-reported answers rather than a clinician's judgment-based scale.
Does a high FRAIL score mean I've been diagnosed with frailty?
No. FRAIL is a screening tool designed to flag who might benefit from a closer look. It does not replace a clinical evaluation, and a score of 3 or higher should be discussed with a doctor rather than treated as a diagnosis on its own.