Determination of frail state and association of frailty with inflammatory markers among cardiac surgery patients in a Central European patient population

Estimated prevalence of frailty and prefrailty in patients undergoing coronary artery or valvular surgeries/procedures: A systematic review and proportional meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The aging population has led to an increasing number of older patients undergoing cardiac surgeries/procedures. Frailty and prefrailty have emerged as important prognostic indicators among these patients. This proportional meta-analysis estimated the prevalence of frailty and prefrailty among patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

METHODS

We searched seven electronic databases for observational studies that used validated measure(s) of frailty and reported prevalence data on frailty and/or prefrailty in older patients undergoing coronary artery or valvular surgeries or transcatheter procedures. Meta-analyses were performed using a random-effects model.

RESULTS

One hundred and one articles involving 626,863 patients were included. The pooled prevalence rates of frailty and prefrailty were 28% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 23%-33%) and 40% (95% CI: 31%-50%), respectively, for patients scheduled for open-heart surgeries and 40% (95% CI: 36%-45%) and 43% (95% CI: 34%-53%), respectively, for patients undergoing transcatheter procedures. Frailty measured using a multidimensional approach identified a higher proportion of frail patients when compared with measures solely focused on physical frailty. Older age, female sex, and lower body mass index and hemoglobin concentrations were significantly associated with higher frailty prevalence. Moreover, countries with higher gross domestic product spent on healthcare exhibited a higher frailty prevalence.

CONCLUSION

Frailty represents a considerable health challenge among patients undergoing cardiac surgeries/procedures. Routine screening for frailty should be considered during perioperative care planning.

Higher Edmonton Frail Scale prior to transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation is related to longer hospital stay and mortality

BACKGROUND

International guidelines for the management of valvular heart disease recommend frailty assessment prior to Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), however there is no consensus how to assess frailty. We investigated whether frailty status assessed with the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS, range 0-17 points) relates to length of stay (LOS), short- and long-term mortality and adverse outcomes after TAVI.

METHODS

In this study we included 357 patients between April 2016 till December 2018. EFS was assessed at baseline. Patients were classified into low (0-3), intermediate (4-7) or high frailty status (8-17). LOS was defined as the number of days between admission and discharge. Mortality data were obtained up to four years after TAVI. Adverse events were defined by Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC)-2 criteria and collected <30 days after TAVI.

RESULTS

Patients with higher frailty status had longer median LOS (days (IQR): low 5 (3), intermediate 6 (4) and high 7 (5), p < 0.001) and higher mortality: low vs intermediate vs high at 30 days 0.5%, 2.2%, 7.0% (p = 0.050), 1 year 3.7%, 10.0%, 15.2% (p = 0.052), 2 years 9.2%, 17.8%, 31.7% (p = 0.003), 3 years 17.2%, 24.0, 47.0% (p = 0.001) and 4 years 19.6%, 30.8%, 55.6% (p < 0.001). Frail patients received more often a pacemaker (2.6%, 6.6%, 13.5%, p = 0.048).

CONCLUSION

In clinical practice, the EFS is a useful tool to screen for frailty in TAVI patients. This tool may possibly be expanded to determine benefit versus harm-risk in these patients and whether specific pre-procedurally interventions are needed in order to reduce mortality.

The association of traditional obesity parameters with the length of stay among patients with coronary artery disease: A cross-sectional study

There is a strong association between obesity and coronary artery disease (CAD). Obesity is measured using traditional obesity parameters, such as body mass index, body adiposity index, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference. The aim of this study is to explore the association between traditional obesity parameters and the length of stay (LOS) among hospitalized CAD patients. An original correlative descriptive study was carried out using secondary data analysis, in which 220 hospitalized Jordanian CAD patients were recruited from Jordan northern and middle regions. Age, WC, triglycerides, and high- sensitivity C-reactive protein were all positive predictors of the total hospital LOS among hospitalized patients with CAD. The WC, age, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels were significantly positively associated with total LOS. Healthcare providers, including nurses, should take into account these significant positive predictors of LOS to achieve better health outcomes and improve patient satisfaction.

The prognostic impacts of frailty on clinical and patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing coronary artery or valvular surgeries/procedures: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Frailty is emerging as an important prognostic indicator for patients undergoing cardiac surgeries/procedures. We sought to evaluate the prognostic and differential impacts of frailty on patients undergoing coronary artery or valvular surgical procedures of different levels of invasiveness, and to explore the differential predictability of various frailty measurement models.

METHODS

Eight databases were searched for prospective cohort studies that have adopted validated measure(s) of frailty and reported clinical, healthcare service utilization, or patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing coronary artery or valvular surgeries/procedures.

RESULTS

Sixty-two articles were included (N = 16,679). Frailty significantly predicted mortality (short-term [≤ 30 days]: odds ratio [OR]: 2.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.28-4.26; midterm [6 months to 1 year]: OR: 3.93, 95%CI: 2.65-5.83; long-term [>1 year]: HR: 2.23, 95%CI: 1.60-3.11), postoperative complications (ORs: 2.54-3.57), discharge to care facilities (OR: 5.52, 95%CI: 3.84-7.94), hospital readmission (OR: 2.00, 95%CI: 1.15-3.50), and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL; standardized mean difference: -0.74, 95%CI: -1.30 to -0.18). Subgroup analyses showed that frailty exerted a greater impact on short-term mortality in patients undergoing open-heart surgeries than those receiving transcatheter procedures. Multidimensional and physical-aspect-focused frailty measurements performed equally in predicting mortality, but multidimensional measurements were more predictive of hospital readmission than physical-aspect-focused measurements.

CONCLUSION

Frailty was predictive of postoperative mortality, complications, increased healthcare service utilization, and reduced HRQoL. The impact of frailty on short-term mortality was more prominent in patients undergoing open-heart surgeries than those receiving transcatheter procedures. Multidimensional measures of frailty enhanced prognostic risk estimation, especially for hospital readmission.

Association between frailty and clinical outcomes in surgical patients admitted to intensive care units: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Preoperative frailty may be a strong predictor of adverse postoperative outcomes. We investigated the association between frailty and clinical outcomes in surgical patients admitted to the ICU.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, and Ovid MEDLINE were searched for relevant articles. We included full-text original English articles that used any frailty measure, reporting results of surgical adult patients (≥18 yr old) admitted to ICUs with mortality as the main outcome. Data on mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital length of stay, and discharge destination were extracted. The quality of included studies and risk of bias were assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Data were synthesised according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines.

RESULTS

Thirteen observational studies met inclusion criteria. In total, 58 757 patients were included; 22 793 (39.4%) were frail. Frailty was associated with an increased risk of short-term (risk ratio [RR]=2.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.99-3.56) and long-term mortality (RR=2.66; 95% CI: 1.32-5.37). Frail patients had longer ICU length of stay (mean difference [MD]=1.5 days; 95% CI: 0.8-2.2) and hospital length of stay (MD=3.9 days; 95% CI: 1.4-6.5). Duration of mechanical ventilation was longer in frail patients (MD=22 h; 95% CI: 1.7-42.3) and they were more likely to be discharged to a healthcare facility (RR=2.34; 95% CI: 1.36-4.01).

CONCLUSION

Patients with frailty requiring postoperative ICU admission for elective and non-elective surgeries had increased risk of mortality, lengthier admissions, and increased likelihood of non-home discharge. Preoperative frailty assessments and risk stratification are essential in patient and clinician planning, and critical care resource utilisation.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

PROSPERO CRD42020210121.

Biomarkers shared by frailty and sarcopenia in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Physical frailty and sarcopenia show extensive clinical similarities. Whether biomarkers exist that are shared by the two conditions is presently unclear.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that investigated the association of frailty and/or sarcopenia with biomarkers as a primary or secondary outcome in adults aged 60 years and older. Only studies published in English that defined frailty using a validated scale and/or questionnaire and diagnosed sarcopenia according to the presence of muscle atrophy plus dynapenia or low physical function were included. Studies were identified from a systematic search of MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases from inception through August 2020. The quality of reporting of each study was assessed by using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort, Cross-Sectional and Case-Control studies of the National Institute of Health. A meta-analysis was conducted when at least three studies investigated the same biomarker in both frailty and sarcopenia. Pooled effect size was calculated based on standard mean differences and random-effect models. Sensitivity analysis was performed based on age and the setting where the study was conducted.

RESULTS

Eighty studies (58 on frailty and 22 on sarcopenia) met the inclusion criteria and were included in the qualitative analysis. Studies on frailty included 33,160 community-dwellers, hospitalized, or institutionalized older adults (60-88 years) from 21 countries. Studies on sarcopenia involved 4904 community-living and institutionalized older adults (68-87.6 years) from 9 countries. Several metabolic, inflammatory, and hematologic markers were found to be shared between the two conditions. Albumin and hemoglobin were negatively associated with both frailty and sarcopenia. Interleukin 6 was associated with frailty and sarcopenia only in people aged < 75. Community-dwelling older adults with frailty and sarcopenia had higher levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha compared with their robust and non-sarcopenic counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

A set of metabolic, hematologic, and inflammatory biomarkers was found to be shared by frailty and sarcopenia. These findings fill a knowledge gap in the quest of biomarkers for these conditions and provide a rationale for biomarker selection in studies on frailty and sarcopenia.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Impact of Age on Perioperative Inflammatory Biomarkers

BACKGROUND

Dysregulation of immune responses to surgical stress in older patients and those with frailty may manifest as differences in inflammatory biomarkers. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine differences in perioperative inflammatory biomarkers between older and younger patients, and between patients with and without frailty.

METHODS

MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, and CINAHL databases were searched (Inception to June 23, 2020). Observational or experimental studies reporting the perioperative level or activity of biomarkers in surgical patients stratified by age or frailty status were included. The primary outcome was inflammatory biomarkers (grouped by window of ascertainment: pre-op; post-op: <12 hours, 12-24 hours, 1-3 days, 3 days to 1 week, and >1 week). Quality assessment was conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Inverse-variance, random-effects meta-analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Forty-five studies (4263 patients) were included in the review, of which 36 were pooled for meta-analysis (28 noncardiac and 8 cardiac studies). Two studies investigated frailty as the exposure, while the remaining investigated age. In noncardiac studies, older patients had higher preoperative levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), lower preoperative levels of lymphocytes, and higher postoperative levels of IL-6 (<12 hours) and CRP (12-24 hours) than younger patients. In cardiac studies, older patients had higher preoperative levels of IL-6 and CRP and higher postoperative levels of IL-6 (<12 hours and >1 week).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate a paucity of frailty-specific studies; however, the presence of age-associated differences in the perioperative inflammatory response is consistent with age-associated states of chronic systemic inflammation and immunosenescence. Additional studies assessing frailty-specific changes in the systemic biologic response to surgery may inform the development of targeted interventions.