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

  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Introduction

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.

Methods

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.

Results

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.

Conclusion

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi, 110029, India

    D. Khandelwal, A. Goel, U. Kumar, V. Gulati, R. Narang & A. B. Dey

Authors
  1. D. Khandelwal
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  2. A. Goel
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  3. U. Kumar
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  4. V. Gulati
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  5. R. Narang
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  6. A. B. Dey
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Correspondence to A. B. Dey.

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Khandelwal, D., Goel, A., Kumar, U. et al. Frailty is associated with longer hospital stay and increased mortality in hospitalized older patients. J Nutr Health Aging 16, 732–735 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-012-0369-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-012-0369-5

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