The effect of medical illness related depression on frailty in elderly subjects with heart failure

Abstract

Yildiray Topcu, Fatih Tufan, Gulistan Bahat, M Akif KaranDepartment of Geriatrics, Istanbul School of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, TurkeyWe read the recently published and well-designed study of Uchmanowicz et al which suggests that multidimensional assessment of the frailty syndrome (FS) in subjects with heart failure (HF) is very important.1 The authors investigated the association between the dimensions of FS and self-care ability in elderly chronic HF patients. Their findings indicate that only social components of frailty adversely affect the ability to self-care. Their study is especially important regarding two aspects. Firstly, there are limited studies regarding FS in elderly HF patients. Secondly, most commonly used frailty instruments focus on physical components of frailty and overlook psychological and social components. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) has the potential to detect psychological and social components of frailty.View original paper by Uchmanowicz and colleagues. 

Keywords

• depression
• frailty
• heart failure