BACKGROUND: Items of frailty phenotype and frailty load can differently influence functional capacity and risk of falls in frail older adults.
Methods: The FIBRA study is a cross-sectional, multicentric, and multidisciplinary investigation of 617 community-dwelling older adults from Brazil considered frail by the frailty phenotype.
Results and Conclusion: Functional capacity for basic activities of daily living was different for those older adults positive at gait slowness (P =.002); for instrumental activities of daily living differences occurred for 4 positive items; for falls differences appeared only for gait slowness (P =.30). As older adults are considered frail, frailty load is not strongly associated with functional capacity and falls occurrence.