Abstract PR352

Abstract

: According to WHO, by 2050 it is expect that the number of elderly population would be about 1.5 billion, representing 16% of world’s population. The figure of older patient undergoing surgical procedures is also increasing. Nevertheless, the risk of anesthesia related complications and death is significantly elevated in patient over the age 55-64 and highest in patient over 85 years. Aging is increasingly recognized as a distinctive field of health that associated with decreased physiological reserve and subsequent vulnerability of the patient to risk of stress induced complications. Forecasting post-operative outcomes in elderly patients undergoing surgery is not an easy task, being able to accurately predict who will not be able to do well after surgery would greatly assist in the decision to undergo surgery. Frailty is one of the main health problems, though the concept is almost universally established, its operational description remains debated. Moreover it is often mistakenly applied interchangeably with co-morbidity and disability. Indeed, frailty is a dynamic state leading to loss in one or more field of human functioning (physical, psychological, and social), which increases the risk of adverse outcomes such as falls, hospitalization, disability and death. Recent evidence has emerged suggesting that many chronic diseases cause changes in the human body that are similar to those traditionally attributed to aging. Diabetes, HIV, and cancer are associated with accelerated decline of muscle mass, relative increase in adipose tissue and increments of basic metabolic rate. There are different ways of assessing frailty, however, frailty index widely use in clinical practice. In addition, the seven frailty characteristics have been found to predict postoperative complication in cardiac and colorectal surgery, The Timed Up-and Go, The Katz Score, The Mini-Cog, The Charlson Index, Anemia of chronic disease, Poor nutrition, and the geriatric syndrome of fall. Reducing the severity of frailty is believed to provide large benefits for individuals, their families and for the society. Clinicians should specifically identify and target the dimensions of frailty with different assessment tools. At this time, from the current published literature, four treatments appear to have potential to manage physical components of frailty: exercise, caloric and protein support, vitamin D and reduction of poly-pharmacy. It’s important that clinicians familiarize themselves with frailty and assessment criteria as it has a prognostic value,as well as its measure can help to identify any modifiable factors to improve patient surgical outcome Key words: Elderly, frailty, frailty assessment. Disclosure of Interest: None declared