Frailty represents one of the major contemporary public health concerns. International healthcare systems are adapting to accommodate the health needs of older adults living with frailty. However, stroke and rehabilitation have been conspicuously absent from recent guidance. The same situation is seen for research, with an exponential increase in frailty research in the last decade but still relatively little work with a stroke or rehabilitation focus.

Thankfully the landscape is changing and important research on frailty and stroke is being published, but to date there has been no international stroke-frailty collaborative platform. We are excited to from a working group under the auspices of ISRRA and led by Terry Quinn (Glasgow, UK) and Richard Lindley (Sydney, Australia).  We have assembled an international collective of experts and enthusiasts with a background in stroke, frailty or both. This international, multidisciplinary team will work together to tackle some of the major roadblocks to advancing the stroke-frailty clinical and research agenda.

In the first instance we will turn our attention to the assessment of frailty and pre-stroke function. We will begin with assessment, as the first step to understanding and managing frailty is to look for it and find it.