Frailty in Acute Kidney Injury Critical Care Patient

Fragility is a term used to describe a condition characterized by the loss of biological reserve and the vulnerability to restore the homeostasis of subjects after a stressful event. It implies a limited capacity to face the physiological alteration that generates an acute illness, and although it becomes more prevalent with age, it is not exclusive for older people. There is a wide set of methods to assess the fragility described in the literature, whose utility depends on the purpose, the environment, the time available, and the ability of the evaluator. The assessment of fragility in critical illness poses particular challenges. There is little evidence of reliability and only limited evidence on the feasibility of evaluating frailty in critical patients. Frailty occurs most frequently in older adults and, similar to acute kidney injury (AKI), carries a high risk of poor outcomes such as physical disability, functional decline, frequent hospitalizations, and increased mortality, particularly in critically ill older patients admitted to the intensive care units.