Frailty is associated with longer hospital stay and increased mortality in hospitalized older patients

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition, health & aging Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 732 - 735
• Main Authors: Khandelwal, D., Goel, A., Kumar, U., Gulati, V., Narang, R., Dey, A.B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier Masson SAS 01.08.2012; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; anemia; Anemia - diagnosis; Anemia - epidemiology; Anemia - ethnology; Biological and medical sciences; central nervous system diseases; Cognition Disorders; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cognition Disorders - ethnology; Comorbidity; death; diagnosis; elderly; epidemiology; ethnology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Frail Elderly; Frailty; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geriatrics/Gerontology; heart failure; Heart Failure - diagnosis; Heart Failure - epidemiology; Heart Failure - ethnology; hemoglobin; Hospital Mortality; Hospital Mortality - ethnology; Hospitals, Public; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; in-hospital mortality; Incidence; India; India - epidemiology; Length of Stay; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Mortality; Neurosciences; Nutrition; Older people; patients; Primary Care Medicine; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life Research; Survival Analysis; tuberculosis; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; India; in-hospital mortality; Frailty; elderly; Human; Association; Mortality; Metabolic diseases; Hospital; Epidemiology; Elderly
• ISSN: 1279-7707; 1760-4788; 1760-4788
• DOI: 10.1007/s12603-012-0369-5

With the onset of frailty, there is often a rapid, progressive, and self-perpetuating downward spiral towards death. Frailty has enormous impact on acute hospital care and has been shown to be a more effective predictor of mortality than conventional clinical measures. Hospitalized older patients admitted in medical wards at a teaching public hospital were studied to determine the prevalence of frailty; its association with anemia, congestive heart failure, clinically active tuberculosis and cognitive impairment; as well as its impact upon short-term outcome. A total of 250 older hospitalized patients were included, and their frailty status was assessed using Fried's criteria. Of these, 83 (33.2%) patients were frail, with frailty found to be significantly associated with increasing age. A lower mean level of haemoglobin (p, 0.002), higher chance of congestive heart failure (p, <0.001), lower mean MMSE score (p, <0.001), was found in frail older patients. Frail subjects had a higher median hospital stay. There were total of 5 deaths, all among the frail group. Our study showed that almost a third of hospitalized older patients are frail, and have anemia, higher frequency of CHF, cognitive impairment, longer hospital stay and higher mortality.