Study protocol for the use of time series forecasting and risk analyses to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admissions associated with new-onset disability and frailty in a national, linked electronic health data setting.

Introduction: Older people were at particular risk of morbidity and mortality during COVID-19. Consequently, they experienced formal (externally imposed) and informal (self-imposed) periods of social isolation and quarantine. This is hypothesised to have led to physical deconditioning, new-onset disability and frailty.