If You Cannot Measure Frailty, You Cannot Improve It

Frailty and prognosis of older patients with chronic heart failure

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Heart failure (HF) is prevalent in advanced ages. Our objective was to assess the impact of frailty on 1-year mortality in older patients with ambulatory HF.

METHODS

Our data come from the FRAGIC study (Spanish acronym for "Study of the impact of frailty and other geriatric syndromes on the clinical management and prognosis of elderly outpatients with heart failure"), a multicenter prospective registry conducted in 16 Spanish hospitals including outpatients ≥ 75 years with HF followed up by cardiology services in Spain.

RESULTS

We included 499 patients with a mean age of 81.4±4.3 years, of whom 193 (38%) were women. A total of 268 (54%) had left ventricular ejection fraction <40%, and 84.6% was in NYHA II functional class. The FRAIL scale identified 244 (49%) pre-frail and 111 (22%) frail patients. Frail patients were significantly older, were more frequently female (both, P <.001), and had higher comorbidity according to the Charlson index (P=.017) and a higher prevalence of geriatric syndromes (P <.001). During a median follow-up of 371 [361-387] days, 58 patients (11.6%) died. On multivariate analysis (Cox regression model), frailty detected with the FRAIL scale was marginally associated with mortality (HR=2.35; 95%CI, 0.96-5.71; P=.059), while frailty identified by the visual mobility scale was an independent predictor of mortality (HR=2.26; 95%CI, 1.16-4.38; P=.015); this association was maintained after adjustment for confounding variables (HR=2.13; 95%CI, 1.08-4.20; P=.02).

CONCLUSIONS

In elderly outpatients with HF, frailty is independently associated with mortality at 1 year of follow-up. It is essential to identify frailty as part of the comprehensive approach to elderly patients with HF.

Cardiac Rehabilitation in Advanced aGE after PCI for acute coronary syndromes: predictors of exercise capacity improvement in the CR-AGE ACS study

BACKGROUND

The positive effect of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on outcomes after acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is established. Nevertheless, enrollment rates into CR programs remain low, although ACS carry a high risk of functional decline particularly in the elderly.

AIM

We aimed to determine if a multidisciplinary CR improves exercise capacity in an older population discharged after ACS systematically treated with PCI.

METHODS

CR-AGE ACS is a prospective, single-center, cohort study. All patients aged 75+ years consecutively referred to Cardiac Rehabilitation outpatient Unit at Careggi University Hospital, were screened for eligibility. Moderate/severe cognitive impairment, disability in 2+ basic activities of daily living, musculoskeletal diseases, contraindication to Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test, and diseases with an expected survival < 6 months, were exclusion criteria. Participants attended a CR program, based on 5-day-per-week aerobic training sessions for 4 weeks.

RESULTS

We enrolled 253 post-ACS patients with a mean age 80.6 ± 4.4 years. After CR, 136 (56.2%) 77 (31.3%) patients obtained, respectively, at least a moderate (∆+5%) or an optimal (∆+15%) increase in VO2peak. Baseline VO2peak (- 1 ml/kg/min: OR 1.18; 95% CI 1.09-1.28), the number of training sessions (+1 session: OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.01-1.15), and mild-to-moderate baseline disability (yes vs. no: OR 0.22; 95% CI 0.01-0.57) were the predictors of VO2peak changes.

CONCLUSIONS

A CR program started early after discharge from ACS produces a significant increase in exercise capacity in very old patients with mild-to-moderate post-acute physical impairment. Baseline VO2peak, the number of training sessions, and the level of baseline disability are the independent predictors of improvement.