Clinical Interventions in Aging (Feb 2019)

The impact of frailty on prolonged hospitalization and mortality in elderly inpatients in Vietnam: a comparison between the frailty phenotype and the Reported Edmonton Frail Scale

  • Nguyen AT,
  • Nguyen TX,
  • Nguyen TN,
  • Nguyen THT,
  • Pham T,
  • Cumming R,
  • Hilmer SN,
  • Vu HTT

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 381 – 388

Abstract

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Anh Trung Nguyen,1,2 Thanh Xuan Nguyen,1,2 Tu N Nguyen,1,3 Thu Hoai Thi Nguyen,1,2,4 Thang Pham,1,2 Robert Cumming,5 Sarah N Hilmer,6 Huyen Thi Thanh Vu1,2 1The National Geriatric Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam; 2Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam; 3Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; 4Dinh Tien Hoang Institute of Medicine, Hanoi, Vietnam; 5Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 6Departments of Clinical Pharmacology and Aged Care, Royal North Shore Hospital and Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia Aims: To investigate the impact of frailty on outcomes in older hospitalized patients, including prolonged length of stay and all-cause mortality 6 months after admission, using both the frailty phenotype and the Reported Edmonton Frail Scale (REFS).Patients and methods: This study is the follow-up phase of a study designed to investigate the prevalence of frailty and its impact on adverse outcomes in older hospitalized patients at the National Geriatric Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam.Results: A total of 461 participants were included, with a mean age 76.2±8.9 years, and 56.8% were female. The prevalence of frailty was 31.9% according to the REFS and 35.4% according to Fried’s criteria. The kappa coefficient was 0.57 (95% CI =0.49–0.66) between the two frailty criteria in identifying frail and non-frail participants. There was a trend toward increasing the likelihood of prolonged hospitalization in participants with frailty defined by Fried’s criteria (adjusted OR =1.49, 95% CI =0.94–2.35) or by REFS (adjusted OR =1.43, 95% CI =0.89–2.29). During 6 months of follow-up, 210 were lost and 18/251 (7.2%) participants died. Mortality was higher in those with frailty defined by either Fried’s criteria or REFS. On multivariable survival analysis, adjusted HRs for mortality were 2.65 (95% CI =1.02–6.89) for Fried’s criteria and 4.19 (95% CI =1.59–10.99) for REFS.Conclusion: Fried’s frailty phenotype or REFS can be used as a screening tool to detect frailty in older inpatients in Vietnam and predict mortality. Frailty screening can help prioritize targeted frailty-tailored treatments, such as nutrition, early mobility and medication review, for these vulnerable patients to improve clinical outcomes. Keywords: frailty, elderly, inpatients, Vietnam

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