Exploratory Evaluation of the Oral Frailty 20-Item Checklist (OF-20) for Characterizing Multidimensional Vulnerability in Older Outpatients

Background

Oral frailty is a multidimensional condition associated with physical frailty, malnutrition, and adverse health outcomes in older adults. Although the Oral Frailty 5-item checklist (OF-5) is useful for screening, its binary classification may not capture the heterogeneous patterns of oral functional decline. The Oral Frailty 20-item Checklist (OF-20) was designed to provide a more detailed, domain-specific characterization of oral frailty while complementing, rather than replacing, the existing screening tool.