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Postoperative Recovery in Frail, Pre-frail, and Non-frail Elderly Patients Following Abdominal Surgery

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Abstract

Background

The objective of this study is to explore the association between frailty and surgical recovery over a 6-month period, in elderly patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery.

Methods

A total of 144 patients were categorized as frail, pre-frail, and non-frail based on five criteria: weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low activity. Recovery to preoperative functional status (activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)), cognition, quality of life, and mental health was assessed at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively. A repeated measure logistic regression was used to analyze the effect of frailty on recovery over time. The effect of frailty on hospitalization outcomes was also evaluated.

Results

Mean age was 78 ± 5 years with 17.4% of patients categorized as frail, 60.4% pre-frail, and 22.2% non-frail. At 6 months, the percent of patients who had recovered to preoperative values were: ADL 90%; IADL 76%; cognition 75.5%; mental health 66%; and quality of life 70%. While more frail patients experienced adverse hospitalization outcomes and fewer had recovered to preoperative functional status, these differences were not found to be statistically significant. Overall, frailty status was not significantly associated with the trajectory of recovery or hospitalization outcomes.

Conclusion

Strong, institutional commitment to quality surgical care, as well as appropriate strategies for older patients, may have mitigated the impact of frailty on recovery. Further research is needed to examine the role of frailty in the surgical recovery process.

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Funding

This project was supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research and St. Mary’s Hospital Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Canada

    Tarifin Sikder, Nadia Sourial, Geva Maimon, Debby Teasdale, Howard Bergman & Simon Bergman

  2. St-Mary’s Hospital Center, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Tarifin Sikder, Mehdi Tahiri & Sebastian Demyttenaere

  3. Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E2, Canada

    Mehdi Tahiri, Shannon A. Fraser & Simon Bergman

  4. Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Howard Bergman

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  1. Tarifin Sikder
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Correspondence to Simon Bergman.

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Conflict of interest

Ms. Sikder, Dr. Maimon, Ms. Sourial, Dr. Tahiri, Ms. Teasdale, Dr. H. Bergman, Dr. S. Bergman, and Dr. Demyttenaere have no conflicts of interest or financial relationships to disclose. Dr. Fraser is a preceptor for Covidien and Bard Canada.

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Sikder, T., Sourial, N., Maimon, G. et al. Postoperative Recovery in Frail, Pre-frail, and Non-frail Elderly Patients Following Abdominal Surgery. World J Surg 43, 415–424 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-018-4801-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-018-4801-9

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