Abstract
Background: Little is known about frailty among patients hospitalized with heart failure (HF). To date, the limited information on frailty in HF is based on a unidimensional view of frailty, in which only physical aspects are considered when determining frailty. The aims of this study were to study different dimensions of frailty (physical, psychological and social) in patients with HF and the effect of different dimensions of frailty on the incidence of heart failure. Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design and included 965 patients hospitalized for heart failure and 164 healthy controls. HF was defined according to the ESC guidelines. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) was used to assess frailty. Probit regression analyses and chi-square statistics were used to examine associations between the occurrence of heart failure and TFI domains of frailty. Results: Patients diagnosed with frailty were 15.3% more likely to develop HF compared to those not diagnosed with frailty (p < 0.001). An increase in physical, psychological and social frailty corresponded to an increased risk of HF of 2.9% (p < 0.001), 4.4% (p < 0.001) and 6.6% (p < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: We found evidence of the association between different dimensions of frailty and incidence of HF.
Highlights
The recent FRAIL-HF study provided evidence that frailty may affect more than 70% of heart failure patients over 80 years of age, emphasizing that older HF patients are susceptible to frailty [9,10]
Our findings suggested that the risk of HF due to frailty was not as great; different measures of frailty were used in these two studies, so this may explain the discrepancy in HF risk
The findings from the present study demonstrate that frailty may be a prognostic factor of developing HF
Summary
Heart failure (HF) affects over 64 million people worldwide, and the prevalence is expected to double in the 40 years [1,2]. Frailty syndrome frequently occurs in patients with HF, with prevalence rates ranging from 15 to 74%, depending on the clinical population and assessment methods [3,4,5]. Frailty syndrome is present in only 3.2% of patients aged 65–70 years but is present in 23.1% of patients 90 years and older [6,7,8]. The recent FRAIL-HF study provided evidence that frailty may affect more than 70% of heart failure patients over 80 years of age, emphasizing that older HF patients are susceptible to frailty [9,10]
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