Background:

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by a progressive impairment in the subjects’ ability to respond to environmental stress. Frailty is more commonly found in heart failure (HF) patients than in general population and it is an independent predictor of rehospitalization, emergency room visits and death.

Aim:

To estimate the prevalence of frailty in patients with decompensated HF admitted to four hospitals in Santiago, Chile.

Material and Methods:

Cross-sectional study. Subjects aged 60 or older consecutively admitted for decompensated HF to the study centers between August 2014 and March 2015 were included.

Frailty was defined as the presence of three or more of the following criteria:

unintended weight loss, muscular weakness, depression symptoms (exhaustion), reduced gait speed and low physical activity. Independent variables were tested for association using simple logistic regression. Variables associated with frailty (p < 0.05) were included in a multiple logistic regression model.

Results:

Seventy-nine subjects were included. The prevalence of frailty was 50.6%. Frail patients were mostly female (52.6%) and older than non-frail subjects (73.7± 7.9 vs 68.2 ± 7.1; p < 0.003). Independent predictors of frailty were age (Odds raio (OR) 1.10; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.03-1.17), quality of life measured with the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (OR 1.07; IC95%: 1.03-1.11), previous hospitalizations (OR 2.56; 95%CI: 1.02-6.43) and number of medications (OR 4.46; 95%CI: 1.11-17.32).

Conclusions:

The prevalence of frailty in patients admitted to the hospital for decompensated heart failure is high. Age, quality of life, hospitalizations and polypharmacy were factors associated with frailty in this group of participants.