Mapping longitudinal evidence on multidimensional frailty among community-dwelling older adults: protocol for a scoping review.

Abstract

Multidimensional frailty among community-dwelling older adults has emerged as an important issue in ageing research, given its close association with declines in health status, functional independence and overall quality of life. This scoping review aims to map longitudinal evidence on multidimensional frailty in community-dwelling older adults, including its measurement, prevalence, changes over time and associated risk factors. The findings will be used to generate insights for future research and inform the development of interventions targeting multidimensional frailty. This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the methodological guidance of the Joanna Briggs Institute and the framework originally proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. The primary objective is to identify longitudinal evidence on risk factors associated with multidimensional frailty in community-dwelling older adults. A comprehensive literature search will be performed across six electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus), covering studies published from 1 January 2010 to the date of the final search (anticipated August 2026). Only peer-reviewed studies published in English and using longitudinal designs will be included. Study selection will be guided by the Population-Concept-Context framework. The review findings will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Ethical approval is not required for this review as it is based solely on analysis of data from previously published studies. The results are expected to contribute to the development of interventions targeting multidimensional frailty among community-dwelling older adults. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications, academic conferences and scholarly forums.