Frailty status among older critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury

BackgroundFrailty status among critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) is not well described despite its importance for prognostication and informed decision-making on life-sustaining therapies. In this study, we aim to describe the epidemiology of frailty in a cohort of older critically ill patients with severe AKI, the outcomes of patients with pre-existing frailty before AKI and the factors associated with a worsening frailty status among survivors.MethodsThis was a secondary analysis of a prospective multicentre observational study that enrolled older (age>65 years) critically ill patients with AKI. The clinical frailty scale (CFS) score was captured at baseline, at 6 months and at 12 months among survivors. Frailty was defined as a CFS score of >= 5. Demographic, clinical and physiological variables associated with frailty as baseline were described. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to describe the association between frailty and 90-day mortality. Demographic and clinical factors associated with worsening frailty status at 6 months and 12 months were described using multivariable logistic regression analysis and multistate models.ResultsAmong the 462 patients in our cohort, median (IQR) baseline CFS score was 4 (3-5), with 141 (31%) patients considered frail. Pre-existing frailty was associated with greater hazard of 90-day mortality (59% (n=83) for frail vs. 31% (n=100) for non-frail; adjusted hazards ratio [HR] 1.49; 95% CI 1.11-2.01, p=0.008). At 6 months, 68 patients (28% of survivors) were frail. Of these, 57% (n=39) were not classified as frail at baseline. Between 6 and 12 months of follow-up, 9 (4% of survivors) patients transitioned from a frail to a not frail status while 10 (4% of survivors) patients became frail and 11 (5% of survivors) patients died. In multivariable analysis, age was independently associated with worsening CFS score from baseline to 6 months (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.08; 95% CI 1.03-1.13, p=0.003).ConclusionsPre-existing frailty is an independent risk factor for mortality among older critically ill patients with severe AKI. A substantial proportion of survivors experience declining function and worsened frailty status within one year.