Frailty as a prognostic factor for the critically ill older adult trauma patients

Abstract Background Frailty is highly prevalent in the elderly and confers high risk for adverse outcomes. We aimed to assess the impact of frailty on critically ill older adult trauma patients. Methods We analyzed the ACS-TQIP(2010–2014) including all critically-ill trauma patients ≥65y. The modified frailty index (mFI) was calculated. Following stratified into frail and non-frail, propensity score matching was performed. Our primary outcome measure was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcome measures included mortality and discharge disposition. Results We identified 88,629 patients, of which 34,854 patients (frail: 17,427, non-frail: 17,427) were matched. Overall 14% died. Frail patients had higher rates of complications (34% vs. 18%, p p p Conclusion critically-ill frail patients are more likely to have higher morbidity and mortality. Frailty can be used as an objective measure to identify high-risk patients.