SummaryBackground and objectives Kidney disease is associated with physiologic changes that may predispose to frailty. This study sought to investigate whether lower levels of kidney function were associated with prevalent or incident frailty in Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) participants.Design, setting, participants, & measurements CHS enrolled community-dwelling adults age $65 years between 1989-1990 and 1992-1993. To examine prevalent frailty, included were 4150 participants without stroke, Parkinson disease, prescribed medications for Alzheimer disease or depression, or severely impaired cognition. To examine incident frailty, included were a subset of 3459 participants without baseline frailty or development of exclusion criteria during follow-up. The primary predictor was estimated GFR (eGFR) calculated using serum cystatin C (eGFR cys ). Secondary analyses examined eGFR using serum creatinine (eGFR SCr ). Outcomes were prevalent frailty and incident frailty at 4 years of follow-up. Frailty was ascertained on the basis of weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity.Results The mean age was 75 years and the median eGFR cys was 73 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 . Among participants with an eGFR cys ,45 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 , 24% had prevalent frailty. In multivariable analysis and compared with eGFR cys $90 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 , eGFR cys categories of 45-59 (odds ratio [OR], 1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17 to 2.75) and 15-44 (OR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.72 to 4.77) were associated with higher odds of frailty, whereas 60-75 (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.70) was not. In multivariable analysis, eGFR cys categories of 60-75 (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.72; 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.75) and 15-44 (IRR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.23 to 4.22) were associated with higher incidence of frailty whereas 45-59 (IRR, 1.53; 95% CI, 0.90 to 2.60) was not. Lower levels of eGFR SCr were not associated with higher risk of prevalent or incident frailty.Conclusions In community-dwelling elders, lower eGFR cys was associated with a higher risk of prevalent and incident frailty whereas lower eGFR SCr was not. These findings highlight the importance of considering non-GFR determinants of kidney function.