Frailty among community-dwelling people living with HIV: a scoping review protocol.

Abstract

Frailty in people living with HIV is a critical concern due to its significant impact on health, functional capacity and overall quality of life. This scoping review aims to synthesise comprehensive information on frailty in this population, establish foundational evidence and identify research gaps, with particular emphasis on the need for interventions targeting multidimensional frailty among community-dwelling people living with HIV. This scoping review adheres to the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and the framework developed by Arksey and O'Malley. The research questions will focus on frailty among community-dwelling people living with HIV. The literature search will encompass four databases: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library, covering studies published from 1 January 2001 to 30 June 2025. Only peer-reviewed articles published in English will be included. Both quantitative and qualitative studies will be considered. The inclusion criteria will be guided by the population-conceptual-context (PCC) framework. The findings will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Ethical approval is not required as this study involves an analysis of previously published literature. The findings will inform the development of interventions for frailty in people living with HIV and will be disseminated through academic conferences, peer-reviewed publications and expert seminars.