Frailty indexes in perioperative and critical care: A systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Frail patients are increasingly presenting for both perioperative and intensive care, highlighting the need for simple, valid and scaleable frailty measurement. Frailty indexes comprehensively assess a range of deficits in health, and can incorporate routinely collected data. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of frailty indexes on surgical and intensive care risk stratification and patient outcomes (mortality, complications, length of stay, and discharge location). METHODS: A prospectively registered systematic review was performed. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched to identify studies enrolling adult surgical or intensive care pa..