The following is a summary of “Frailty-Guided Management of Cardiovascular Disease—From Clinical Trials to Clinical Practice,” published in the August 2023 issue of Cardiology by Kim et al.
Frailty represents a condition marked by diminished physiologic capacity and heightened susceptibility. Although there’s no consensus on its measurement, two widely accepted definitions include the frailty phenotype and deficit accumulation frailty. The frailty phenotype defines this state as a clinical syndrome characterized by at least three factors: muscle weakness, slow gait, physical inactivity, weight loss, and fatigue.
Deficit accumulation frailty describes frailty as a state of compromised health quantifiable through a frailty index, computed as the proportion of health issues from a standardized examination covering various age-related health factors. Depending on the criteria applied, the occurrence of frailty among adults aged 65 and above with cardiovascular disease (CVD) ranges from 15% to 63%. Individuals with CVD and frailty face heightened risks of adverse clinical outcomes and treatment-related events.
Frailty is increasingly factored into treatment decisions, especially for treatments involving high physiological strain (e.g., surgery) or severe adverse events (e.g., falls).
Source: jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abstract/2809087