53 Frailty is Not Only a Phenomenon of Elderly Burn Patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Recent evidence indicates that increased frailty is associated with increased mortality in patients with burn injuries over the age of 50 years old. This work found that 35.7% of burn patients over 65 years old were frail at the time of their burn admission while 19.2% of burn patients 50 to 64 years old were frail. While frailty is associated with increased age the two are separate entities suggesting that frailty may be present in much younger patients who present with burn injuries. We hypothesize that frailty exists in all age groups of patients presenting with burn injury and the prevalence increases with age. Methods Following IRB approval, a 5-year (2014–2019) retrospective chart review was conducted of all burn patients admitted to the burn center. Data collected includes age, gender, and burn size (% TBSA). Frailty was determined using the Modified Frailty Index 11 (MFI 11) from co-morbidities included in the burn registry. Patients were considered frail if they have an MFI ³ 2 and pre-frail for an MFI³1 and < 2. Patients were assessed by decades for age. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-tests. Results A total of 2173 patients (mean age 46.1±17.3 years, 1584 males (72.8%), mean % TBSA 12.5±16.3%) were analyzed. All age groups included patients who were pre-frail (Table 1). In the under 20-year-old group, 8.5% were pre-frail. This increases with each age group to the 71-80-year-old group in which 41.7% of patients are pre-frail. The over 80-year-old group had slightly fewer pre-frail patients (35.9%). There were no frail patients in the under 20-year-old group. In the 21–30 there were 3 patients (0.7%) that had an MFI of 2 or more placing them in the frail group. Frailty was significantly different across the age groups (p< 0.001). As patients age, the proportion of female patients increases (from 17.6% to 37.5%. p< 0.0001). Frailty was also associated with gender with women having a higher percentage of frailty (p=0.0006). With respect to burn size, age category was not associated with burn size (p=0.12), but frail patients had smaller burns than non-frail or pre-frail patients (9.5% vs. 13.3% vs. 12.2%, p=0.0002). Conclusions Pre-frail patients were identified in all age groups. Frailty was present in all age groups except for those who are under 20 years of age. Frailty was associated with female sex and smaller burns. By not specifically looking for frailty in all burn patients admitted to the hospital we are potentially missing frail patients who may benefit from interventions to improve their outcomes.