The impact of frailty on mortality in older patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract Objective Frailty is a relatively new concept for intensivists, and is defined as a status of increased vulnerability to stressors associated with reduced reserve and function of different physiological systems. Supporting the hypothesis that frailty may be an important predictor of poor prognosis among older patients admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU), this study seeks to evaluate the association between frailty at ICU admission and short and long-term mortality. Design An unmatched case-control study was carried out. Setting Intensive Care Unit. Patients or participants Patients ≥ 80 years of age admitted to the ICU for medical reasons. Interventions None. Main variables of interest The primary outcome was 30-day mortality, while secondary outcomes were ICU mortality and mortality at one year. Results Most of the patients were classified as frail at ICU admission (55.3%). The prevalence of frailty was higher among those who died than in those who were alive within 30 days from ICU admission (62.3% vs 48.3%, p = 0.01). One-year mortality was higher in frail (84.4%) than in non-frail patients (65.2%, p  Discussion The admission of geriatric patients to the ICU is increasing. Frailty assessment may play an important role in the clinical evaluation of such individuals for triage, but should not be considered a priori as an exclusion criterion for admission.