Abstract 13136: Physically Frail Adults With Heart Failure Have Worse Physical and Affective Symptoms

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Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome associated with significant symptom burden; however, our understanding of the relationship between symptoms and physical frailty in HF is limited. Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between physical frailty and symptoms among adults with HF. Methods: A sample of adults with symptomatic HF were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Physical frailty was measured according to the five dimensions of the Frailty Phenotype Criteria: shrinking, weakness, slowness, physical exhaustion and low physical activity. Physical symptoms were measured with the HF Somatic Perception Scale-Dyspnea subscale, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Brief Pain Inventory short form. Affective symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Brief Symptom Inventory-Anxiety scale. Generalized linear modeling was used to quantify associations between physical frailty and symptoms, controlling for Seattle HF Model (SHFM) score. Results: The mean age of the sample ( n = 50) was 57.5±9.7 years, 66% were male, 92% had New York Heart Association class III/IV HF, and 66% had non-ischemic etiology. Half of the sample (50%) had physical frailty. Those with physical frailty had more than twice the level of dyspnea ( p = 0.001), 73% worse wake disturbances ( p < 0.001), and 86% worse depressive symptoms ( p = 0.001) compared with those not physically frail, adjusting for SHFM score. There were no differences in pain or anxiety. Conclusions: Physically frail adults with HF have considerably worse dyspnea, wake disturbances, and depression. Targeting physical frailty may help identify and improve physical and affective symptoms in HF.