Prevalence and impact of frailty on mortality in elderly ICU patients: a prospective, multicenter, observational study

Abstract

Frailty is a recent concept used for evaluating elderly individuals. Our study determined the prevalence of frailty in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and its impact on the rate of mortality. A multicenter, prospective, observational study performed in four ICUs in France included 196 patients aged ≥65 years hospitalized for >24 h during a 6-month study period. Frailty was determined using the frailty phenotype (FP) and the clinical frailty score (CFS). The patients were separated as follows: FP score p < 0.001], male gender (HR, 2.4; 95 % CI, 1.1–5.3; p = 0.026), cardiac arrest before admission (HR, 2.8; 95 % CI, 1.1–7.4; p = 0.036), SAPS II score ≥46 (HR, 2.6; 95 % CI, 1.2–5.3; p = 0.011), and brain injury before admission (HR, 3.5; 95 % CI, 1.6–7.7; p = 0.002). The risk factors for 6-month mortality were a CFS ≥5 (HR, 2.4; 95 % CI, 1.49–3.87; p < 0.001) and a SOFA score ≥7 (HR, 2.2; 95 % CI, 1.35–3.64; p = 0.002). An increased CFS was associated with significant incremental hospital and 6-month mortalities. Frailty is a frequent occurrence and is independently associated with increased ICU and 6-month mortalities. Notably, the CFS predicts outcomes more effectively than the commonly used ICU illness scores.