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Prevalence and risk factors of preoperative frailty in Chinese elderly inpatients with gastric and colorectal cancer undergoing surgery: a single-center cross-sectional study using the Groningen Frailty Indicator

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Abstract

Background

Frailty is emerging as an important determinant for health. Compared with Western countries, research in the field of frailty started at a later stage in China and mainly focused on older community dwellers. Little is known about frailty in Chinese cancer patients, nor the risk factors of frailty. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence of frailty and its risk factors in elderly inpatients with gastric and colorectal cancer.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in China from Mar. 2020 to Nov. 2020. The study enrolled 265 eligible inpatients aged 60 and older with gastric and colorectal cancer who underwent surgery. Demographic and clinical characteristics, biochemical laboratory parameters, and anthropometric data were collected from all patients. The Groningen Frailty Indicator was applied to assess the frailty status of patients. A multivariate logistic regression model analysis was performed to identify the risk factors of frailty and to estimate their 95% confidence intervals.

Results

The prevalence of frailty in elderly inpatients with gastric and colorectal cancer was 43.8%. A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older age (OR = 1.065, 95% CI: 1.001–1.132, P = 0.045), low handgrip strength (OR = 4.346, 95% CI: 1.739–10.863, P = 0.002), no regular exercise habit (OR = 3.228, 95% CI: 1.230–8.469, P = 0.017), and low MNA-SF score (OR = 11.090, 95% CI: 5.119–24.024, P < 0.001) were risk factors of frailty.

Conclusions

This study suggested a relatively high prevalence of frailty among elderly inpatients with gastric and colorectal cancer. Older age, low handgrip strength, no regular exercise habit, and low MNA-SF score were identified as risk factors of frailty.

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Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author after the paper is published.

Code availability

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all volunteers who participated in this study for their effort and precious time.

Funding

This work was funded by the Clinical Medicine Discipline Construction Project of Anhui Medical University (No. 2020lcxk032).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China

    Qianqian Zhang

  2. Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No.218 Jixi Road, Hefei, 230022, Anhui, China

    Qianqian Zhang, Meng Zhang, Lei Meng, Aman Xu, Yanyan Zhang & Shihui Yu

  3. Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China

    Shaohua Hu

  4. Department of Clinical Laboratory Center, School of Medicine, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China

    Jing Xi

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  1. Qianqian Zhang
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Contributions

Study concepts and design: Qianqian Zhang, Yanyan Zhang, Shihui Yu, and Aman Xu. Data acquisition: Qianqian Zhang and Meng Zhang. Quality control of data and algorithms: Shihui Yu and Aman Xu. Data analysis and interpretation: Meng Zhang and Shaohua Hu. Statistical analysis: Lei Meng and Jing Xi. Manuscript preparation: Qianqian Zhang, Shaohua Hu. Manuscript editing: Jing Xi, Lei Meng, and Yanyan Zhang. Manuscript review: Shihui Yu and Aman Xu.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Aman Xu or Shihui Yu.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Clinical Medical Research Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University (No. PJ2020-03–29) and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version submitted for publication.

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Zhang, Q., Zhang, M., Hu, S. et al. Prevalence and risk factors of preoperative frailty in Chinese elderly inpatients with gastric and colorectal cancer undergoing surgery: a single-center cross-sectional study using the Groningen Frailty Indicator. Support Care Cancer 30, 677–686 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06483-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06483-4

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