Assessing frailty amongst older people admitted to hospital in a low-income setting: a multicentre study in northern Tanzania.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateEthics and all experimental protocols for this study were granted by: the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania (No. NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol. IX/377); the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College Research and Ethical Review Committee, Tanzania (No. 2543); and the Newcastle University Research Ethics Committee, United Kingdom (No. 1836/17436/2019). All methods were carried out in accordance with local and international guidelines and regulations, including the Declaration of Helsinki. Swahili information and consent forms were given to participants and all provided written informed consent. Those lacking capacity were included if an informant (person aged ≥ 18 years, who knew the patient well, and was not acting in a paid or professional capacity) assented on their behalf. For those with capacity who were unable to read to a sufficient standard to understand the information sheet, the informed consent form was read aloud by a Tanzanian researcher in the presence of an informant and, if consenting, the form was completed with a thumbprint instead of a signature and this process was approved by the ethics boards named above as part of the study protocol. Consent for publicationNot applicable as all individual data is anonymised and individual participants are not identifiable. Competing interestsThe authors have no competing interests to declare. Competing interests The authors have no competing interests to declare."

"Funding The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provided the first author’s salary through a Teaching and Research Fellow Grant. Additional funds were provided by Newcastle University through the Masters of Research degree programme. Neither sponsor had any role in the study’s design, data collection, analysis or in the preparation of this manuscript."