Table 1.

Definitions and measurements of physical frailty in ARIC

Components of physical frailty
Criteria	Definition and measurements
Weight loss	Visit 5: > 10% weight loss from Visit 4 by direct measure of weight, or BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 at current visit Visit 6/7: > 5% weight loss from Visit 5/6 by direct measure of weight, or BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 at current visit
Weakness	Grip strength in the preferred hand (better of two measurements) below the following gender and BMI-specific cut-points:
	Men: • BMI ≤ 24 kg/m2: ≤ 29 kg • BMI 24.1–26 kg/m2: ≤ 30 kg • BMI 26.1–28 kg/m2: ≤ 30 kg • BMI > 28 kg/m2: ≤ 32 kg	Women: • BMI ≤ 23 kg/m2: ≤ 17 kg • BMI 23.1–26 kg/m2: ≤ 17.3 kg • BMI 26.1–29 kg/m2: ≤ 18 kg BMI > 29 kg/m2: ≤ 21 kg
Slowness	Time to walk 4 m at usual pace below the following gender- and height-specific cut-points:
	Men: • Height ≤ 173 cm: ≥ 7 s • Height > 173 cm: ≥ 6 s	Women: • Height ≤ 159 cm: ≥ 7 s Height > 159 cm: ≥ 6 s
Exhaustion	Responded “some of the time” or “most of the time” to the following questions from CES-D scale: I felt everything I did was an effort, or I could not get “going”
Low physical activity	Gender-specific lowest 20% of rank based on the Modified Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire sports and exercise index
Physical frailty status
# Criteria missing	# Non-missing criteria met	Frailty status
0	0	Robust
0	1 – 2	Prefrail
0	3 – 5	Frail
1 – 2	0	Missing (can be robust or prefrail)
1	1	Prefrail
1	2	Missing (can be prefrail or frail)
2	1 – 2	Missing (can be prefrail or frail)
2	3	Frail
3 – 4	0	Missing (can be robust or prefrail or frail)
3 – 4	1 – 2	Missing (can be prefrail or frail)