Geriatrics includes comprehensive assessments in which areas?

• A. Vision, hearing, and sleep assessments
• B. Nutrition, hydration, and electrolyte balance
• C. Cardiac, pulmonary, and renal function
• D. Cognitive, mobility, and frailty evaluations

Answer: (D)

Geriatrics uses a comprehensive, multidimensional approach that looks beyond single diseases to how aging affects a person’s function and independence. The areas highlighted—cognition, mobility, and frailty—capture the functional core of this assessment. Evaluating cognition informs safety, decision-making, and medication management; assessing mobility reveals how well someone can perform daily activities and their risk of falls; and measuring frailty reflects cumulative deficits that predict adverse outcomes like hospitalization and disability. Together, these domains guide goals of care and tailored interventions for older adults. While sensory health, nutrition, and organ-system function are important, they are components of care rather than the defining functional focus of comprehensive geriatric assessment.